Aging Love
by Ookami-Shoujo
Summary: They say that love is eternal. But as Keiko begins to age, she wonders if Yusuke could really love her for all time? And the more she thinks about it, the more she fears the day when she will be dead and he will have centuries to live.
1. One More Year

So here it is: the beginning of my next YYH fanfiction! I've been fighting with my muse for the past month or two on this one (she won), and I finally decided to just throw up the first chapter and pray I don't drown on the rest. That's just my standard warning for those who would like to read my work. I tend to have dry periods were it is impossible to write. And for that, I apologize in advance.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of its characters. I do own the kids though.

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Chapter One—One More Year

"Happy Birthday Keiko!" came a chorus of laughing voices as a smiling brunette blew out the candles on top of a vanilla and chocolate birthday cake.

Her eyes were shining with happiness as an arm snaked around her waist and pulled her tightly to her husband. She laughed, playfully pushing at his chest. "Yusuke, let go! I haven't even cut the cake!" One hand came up unconsciously to brush her short locks. She had cut her hair a few years back to give herself a more professional look, but even now she would forget how short her hair was.

Yusuke faked a growl. "Come on Keiko! Just one little birthday kiss. The cake can wait!" A few joking hoots and catcalls came when he kissed a willing Keiko. He glared at them all. "Psh, your jealousy is pathetic. After all, I have the most beautiful girl in the world as my mate!"

Rolling her eyes, Keiko punched him lightly in the side. "That's 'wife' in Japan, Yusuke," she teased, knowing full well that Yusuke used that word unconsciously after those years in Makai. It was one of the more obvious signs. Some of the other signs were...less apparent. But Keiko had experience most of them by now. After all, she had been Mrs. Urameshi Keiko for many years.

They had had a very small wedding, with their parents and close friends in attendance. Even Koenma had gotten out of his office to attend, claiming that he wanted to make sure Yusuke really would get hitched and settle down. It had been a lovely event, even with the sparring matches at the end.

"So tell me Mrs. Urameshi," smiled Shizuru, "How does it feel to be thirty?"

"To tell you the truth...I still feel like I'm fourteen!" Keiko admitted sheepishly, feeling her still soft cheek as Yusuke left her side to pretend to beat up Kuwabara for claiming that he could take on Yusuke any day of the week still. They were all standing around Keiko and Yusuke's backyard. "I can't believe time has gone by so fast..." She trailed off, eyes following her husband.

Kuwabara's older sister seemed to understand what was going through her mind. "It's great that he chose you over Makai. If he didn't, then he wouldn't be worth your time." She smiled with gentle amusement as she lit a cigarette. "Still..." She took a long drag before blowing out the smoke, crossing her arms. "You two look good together."

"So tell me Shizuru, how does it feel to be thirty-three?" chuckled Keiko with some honest curiosity.

"Worse than it did to be thirty-two, but damn better than thirty."

"Huh? Why?"

The still pretty brunette brushed back long locks of hair with her free hand. Hints of silver strands twinkled in the light. She leveled a stare at Keiko. "It's hard to come to terms with the fact that you're aging. That's why I went on that crazy binge." She stuck the cigarette back in her mouth, still looking relaxed. "Stupid of me."

Keiko didn't say anything, but she knew what Shizuru was referring to. Indeed, the memory was still fresh in her mind: they had all celebrated Shizuru's thirtieth birthday. Still pretty, but she had gotten a bit fatter with age and lack of exercise. Not surprising since she was still pursuing her dream of being a beautician, and often didn't have time for anything else. But a few days after the party she disappeared. Kuwabara had gone crazy with worry for his sister, but they hadn't been able to find her. She finally returned after a few weeks, at least two sizes smaller and with three men who wouldn't leave her alone. She never explained exactly what she had been doing, but had kept the weight off and eventually persuaded two of the guys to leave her alone. The other one she still saw on and off.

"Keiko-san," spoke a gentle, masculine voice.

She turned to meet a sharp emerald gaze that softened as he smiled at her. He offered her his arms and she gladly hugged him. "Shuuichi! Or should I call you Kurama?"

He chuckled. "We've gone over this many times. Either one will do in present company." Crow's feet formed around his eyes as he smiled, and Keiko took a good look at his face. Even now, he was still very handsome—what had made him look feminine as a teenager had made him very masculine and beautiful as he got older. For some reason, he had never had a serious girlfriend—something that caused serious speculation among the females in the group of friends.

To many women's chagrin, he had eventually cut off his long hair to a much shorter length. Yusuke had looked at Keiko with a lot of amusement when she brought up the subject, and told her it was probably more professional for Kurama to not have rock-star-type hair.

"I can't believe even Hiei is here," marveled Keiko as she took Kurama's arm when it was offered. The small fire demon rarely showed up at events, usually only arriving to the ones that Kurama initiated—Keiko had a suspicion that the handsome red head was one of the few who could actually persuade Hiei to come. She had learned from Yusuke the truth about Hiei and Yukina. Even if he had tried to hide it, she had been with him for so long that she could recognize any sign of avoidance and would promptly stomp it into nothing. He hadn't stood a chance of keeping their relationship a secret. Still, siblings—it was quite astonishing when she imagined the sweet, polite Yukina next to the much brusquer and angry Hiei.

The topic of their conversation was standing off on the side of the yard, unwilling to converse much with the others. Yukina had wandered over with a very happy Kuwabara to speak to him. Hiei had not changed at all over the years, still as small and deadly as he was when everyone had been in their early teens.

"Indeed." Kurama's face was curiously blank. "He's waiting for what was promised." His words were not directed at Keiko, more of an aside to himself, but she heard them all the same, and glanced with confusion at her friend. What did he mean?

"Ah, Keiko!"

She smiled at the blue-haired girl trotting up to greet them. "Botan! How are you?"

"I'm doing wonderfully! It's always quite busy in Reikai you know!" She took Kurama's other arm, but kept her body turned towards them both to speak to the other woman. Her pink eyes shimmered with a mixture of excitement and delight. "But enough about me; you should go and start opening presents!"

Kurama smiled at each woman on his arm before chuckling. "It seems I've been designated the guide of two lovely women. Shall we?"

As they headed toward the table placed out for presents, Keiko couldn't help but find it amusing that she was having a birthday party. In truth, she didn't care much for parties—but they threw them all the same, more as chances for their group of friends to get together and catch up on recent events. That was enough of a reason to endure party after party.

She smiled at Kurama and Botan, who were chatting with a relaxed manner. Though Kurama had aged just as Keiko had, Botan still looked the way she did when Keiko had first met her. It was astonishing really. In fact...

Doing a quick look around, Keiko noticed a disturbing trend. Those who were fully human had aged with the years, gaining wrinkles and beginning to lose the youthful figures. The demons and spirits had not altered at all. Even Yusuke still looked to be in his teens, even well-muscled as he was.

She felt herself going down a darker path of thought, wondering if those who were human would die much earlier than everyone else. Would...she die before Yusuke even looked older? When Kurama gently propelled her towards the pile of presents, she shook herself out of her musings, unwilling to put a damper on such a wonderful event.

Beginning to open the gifts with only half of her mind on the task, she felt lingering worries. She was thirty now, and had begun to put on a little bit of weight—try as she might to keep it off. There were no white hairs yet, but Shizuru had started showing signs of her age, and she wasn't much older. An image popped up in her head, of a wizened, grayed, old woman standing next to a smiling, youthful Yusuke. She shuddered visibly.

"Keiko, are you all right?"

She glanced up to meet the concerned face of her husband. A smile formed on her face, and she shook her head, bringing up one hand to caress his face as a response. "It's nothing." When he brought up his own hand to cover hers, she felt that wonderful shiver that always went up her spine when they touched. That, if nothing else, eased her worries, and her fingers squeezed his lovingly.

His breath blew warmly into her ear as he leaned next to her. "I've got a gift for you, but I'll give it to you later, okay?"

A smile formed onto her face; she twisted her body to look at him and wrapped both arms around his neck. As if on command, Yusuke lowered his head and their foreheads touched—all other activity seemed to cease around them, and both reveled in the comforting and familiar contact.

After another minute, she reluctantly pulled away to focus her attention on the presents before her, thanking her friends for their thoughtfulness even after all these years of parties and birthdays. That moment with Yusuke had reassured her more than anything else. What was she going on about? In truth, Shizuru was still quite lovely, and those who had aged just looked more mature, not like they were fifty years older than the demons and spirits. She still had a good waistline and Yusuke had always shown his appreciation for that. They were only in their thirties for Kami's sake! Not very old at all. She was honestly touched when Kuwabara came up to her with his present hidden behind his back, and revealed to her a small white kitten with black spots splashed across her back and face.

Scratching the side of his nose with one finger, he looked embarrassed when she kissed him on the cheek. "W-well you know. Found the poor thing in the shelter and thought you might like her. I made sure she had a good temperament and all her shots." He grinned as he shyly, but possessively laid an arm on Yukina's shoulder; she had come up with a larger present that they had kept away. "It's Yukina's and my gift to you guys. We figured we'd get you something together."

Keiko laughed at the particularly bashful expression that crossed Kuwabara's face when Yukina kissed him on his cheek. It was just adorable. Kuwabara had spent years courting Yukina, and she had had very little notice of it—until Genkai had gotten tired of the ridiculous run around and explained it to her one night. It had, at first, bothered Yukina to no end, and she had retired back to Makai for several years.

During that time, Kuwabara had been devastated, and focused even harder on his studies in college rather than think about the beautiful girl who had run away from him. Keiko knew very well that Yusuke had noticed Kuwabara's depression—even if he claimed that he and Kuwabara weren't that close. He spent almost every night either calling Kuwabara up for some banter, or actually driving down to Kuwabara's dorm to visit and have a sparring session. Neither of them ever said how much that time meant to them, but Keiko had seen it in Yusuke's eyes. The unbridled joy at having such a good friend, and being able to fight without worry of injury; it had also sustained Kuwabara in his worse depressions.

Yukina returned, but this time Kuwabara was careful to keep his distance; he was afraid that she would leave again if he got too close. Keiko had to admit, those had been some crazy years when suddenly it was Yukina who was the subtle wooer. She and Yukina had never been close enough to talk about what had changed her mind, but Keiko was dying to know.

Whatever it had been, it had made Kuwabara a very happy man.

Keiko returned her thoughts to the present as she opened the large present Yukina and Kuwabara had placed in front of her, while Yusuke playfully growled at the kitten who was brave enough to growl back to his delight. Inside the wrapping were several large bags of food that would sustain the cat, as well as a variety of toys—some well bitten and clawed.

Kuwabara grinned at her astonished look. "Some of these things are Eikichi's old toys that she got too big for. And don't worry; this kitten's definitely old enough for solids, no need for milk." He glared suspiciously at Yusuke who was now attempting to pet the kitten the wrong way. "Hey, pet her the way the fur lays, not the opposite. Cats hate if you do it wrong. You better not hurt her, Urameshi!"

As if to prove his point, the kitten scratched Yusuke warningly. "Ouch!" was his immediate response, bringing his hand up to suck at the wound. "Thanks a lot, cat," he remarked sarcastically.

Hiding a grin, Keiko took the kitten from him, petting her the correct way. "Hmm...I think I'll name her Yuki." Both Kuwabara and Yukina looked pleased by her choice of name. She held up the small cat to Yusuke. "What do you think Yusuke?"

He shrugged, having no real opinion. "I'd rather name her Biter, but it's whatever you like."

"Well thank you Kuwabara and Yukina! I absolutely adore her."

A hand tapped on her shoulder, and she turned her head slightly to see Kurama with a small present. "I think this may be the last one. It's from both Hiei and me." He smiled his charming smile, which didn't keep Keiko from suspecting that Kurama had probably just attached Hiei's name to the gift for politeness's sake.

She accepted the gift after handing Yuki back to Yusuke who now regarded her with a cautious stare, and carefully opened the wrapping. Inside was a lovely necklace with a small violet stone in the center and tiny diamonds sparkling around it in a spiral shape. "Thank you Kurama," she smiled at him and then looked over at where Hiei was sitting. "Thank you Hiei!"

He didn't dignify her call with a response.

"If you hold the jewel up in the sunlight and turn it like so..."

Several people murmured with astonishment as the stone revealed a small cross of light in the center that twinkled in and out based on how it was held. Keiko was speechless. "It...really is beautiful. Thank you." Kurama had always held the position of choosing the best and most elegant gifts—and this most certainly proved it!

"You didn't spend too much on it did you?"

He shook his head with reassurance. "Oh no, I'm a very good shopper. Don't worry about that." He smiled when she motioned for him to lean down so that she could give him a kiss on the cheek as well.

"Hey, careful Urameshi. She's kissed two other guys besides you today, and who knows who could be next," teased Kuwabara with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey Yukina, give me a kiss, will you?"

The two men began to fight again, arms waving and kicks flying without hesitation. Any smiles that appeared because of the common spectacle were quickly hidden or suppressed. Though most were amused, Hiei grunted in annoyance, finally standing up from underneath his current tree. '_This is pointless_," he thought scathingly, having endured enough of the party for one lifetime. He would never admit to anyone that a small part of him actually enjoyed events like this. It made him feel wanted.

He walked over to where Kurama stood and muttered, "I'll see you later, fox. I've had enough of this."

Kurama nodded, almost unnoticeably, but it was enough of a signal for Hiei who disappeared without another word. They had been partners for long enough to know each other's movements quite well. Even after Kurama had left Japan for years to go to college and grad school overseas in America, they still knew each other well enough that time and distance made no difference in their relationship.

An arm stealthy snaked around his on one side. He glanced over in surprise to see a slightly drunk Botan grinning at him. His other arm was quickly taken by an equally inebriated Shizuru. "Cooome on, Kuuurama! Let's go to a karaoke bar!" Botan said energetically.

Yusuke, hearing that suggestion, smirked at Kuwabara who smirked in response, in acknowledgement of a new challenge. The black-haired man then grabbed Keiko around the waist, keeping her close enough that their bodies touched, all the while holding onto Yumi firmly with his other hand. He hadn't even gotten a beer yet, but he could tell tonight was going to be great. "Yeah, let's party!" he shouted with delight. "To the cars! We're going to go singing!"

"Hold up, Yusuke!" Keiko protested before he could get carried away. "Don't forget, Genkai was willing to babysit all the kids, but I don't think she'd like it if we didn't appear to pick them up in a few hours."

Laughing sheepishly, he grinned at the rest of their friends. "Well, maybe just a few hours at the karaoke place. And then we'll pick up our little lugs."

Everyone was quick to agree to the suggestion, all piling into their own cars after some quick arguments about which karaoke bar they should grace with their presence. The next three hours at the bar was an enjoyable time well spent, before all reluctantly went their own ways, another birthday party finished with a bang. And if Keiko wondered darkly how many more parties they would have together, she quickly stowed the thought for another time, preferring to enjoy her thirtieth birthday party as best she could. Because a girl only turned thirty once in her life.

It was with light hearts and good humor that two cars arrived at the front of Genkai's temple, headlights flaring against the ground in the arriving darkness. Yusuke was the first to get out of the silver minivan, courteously opening Keiko's door before sweeping her off her feet. "Come on Birthday Girl, I'll give you a piggyback ride up the steps!"

She let out a laugh, both arms languidly draping around his neck. "I'm not a child Yusuke. I can walk fine on my own," she said chidingly, though with amusement as he adjusted her so that he was holding onto her legs as she clung onto his back. Kissing the back of his head gently, she rested her head onto his shoulder, trusting him completely. She was grateful that she was not wearing a skirt, but instead had put on a pair of comfy old jeans this morning.

"Come on Kuwabara: me versus you! First one to reach the door of the old hag's temple wins. Hope Yukina hasn't been eating a lot of sweets." Keiko winced inwardly at Yusuke's continual reference to Genkai as a hag. Of course, he never referred to her like that in front of the children, but when he wasn't acting the father, he still used nicknames like that. She smiled against his shoulder, knowing though that it was love and mutual respect that drove him to call Genkai such things.

Kuwabara bristled at the insult and knelt down so Yukina could hop onto his back, which she did so with a giggle. "My love is as light as a feather! There's no way you can beat us—not when we're together."

"Yeah yeah, red string and all that, right?" Yusuke drawled out mockingly as they set themselves ready for the race. "To show I'm an impartial and fair guy, I'll let Yukina do the countdown instead of my mate."

"Ready? Set. Go!"

Both males charged up the stairs with an intensity that was imprinted in their movements and faces. Keiko squinted her eyes closed at the cold and sharp wind that blew her hair back from her face, and glanced over at Yukina. The boys were neck-and-neck as they zoomed up the stairs, often taking four or five at a time. She grinned at Yukina and gave her the roll of the eyes for their men. The small woman's response was to smile indulgently back and whisper something into Kuwabara's ear as he began to lag behind, puffing much harder than the barely-out-of-breath Yusuke.

Whatever she said spurred him on like nothing else could, and Yusuke actually came to a halt to stare in amazement as Kuwabara exploded up the steps and had already reached the designated end, jumping up and down with glee. "Wow. I wonder what Yukina said to him?" Keiko wondered out loud in shock.

Shaking herself out of it, she tapped him on the shoulder. "Looks like we lost, love. We still better get up there though before Genkai gets tired of babysitting."

"All right. Hang on tight!" He picked up the pace, sprinting up the steps with ease until they reached the top.

Kuwabara was grinning openly at his win over his much younger-looking rival, though Yukina still looked relaxed and reserved as if she hadn't just inspired Kuwabara to inhuman speed. Making the peace-sign, he laughed. "Take that Urameshi! I told you I couldn't lose with Yukina by my side!"

Before Yusuke could come back with a retort, the large doors to the inside of the temple swung open behind Kuwabara and Yukina, and soft lights from lamps on the inside permeated the cold night. Shadowed by the light, a small figure stepped forward, arms relaxed behind her back. "It's about time you got here. The children are getting restless." Genkai smirked slightly as Keiko lightly came down from Yusuke's back.

"Mommy! Daddy!" called one voice, and a little girl ran out, clutching the hand of a smaller boy who was rubbing his eye sleepily. "You're here, you're here!" She leaped up and landed in Yusuke's awaiting arms. "We missed you!" Her black pigtails swung around, barely avoiding hitting her father in the face as she hugged him tightly.

The tottering boy happily went to Keiko, hugging onto her leg with a firm grasp. "Mama."

She knelt to hold him close to her, picking him up. "Hello Kane. How are you feeling?"

Big solemn brown eyes stared into hers as he rested one cheek against her shoulder. "Good. Miss you." He slipped quickly into a light doze now that his mother was here to keep him safe. It was a far cry from his older sister though, who was energetically exchanging words with her father, bouncing up and down with unused energy that sent both pigtails flying. Keiko suppressed a smile at the way Yusuke let her wrestle his arms with her whole body.

At the same time, another happy reunion occurred with the Kuwabaras as two energetic children happily made their way to both parents. From their similar movements and facial structures, it could be assumed that they were twins, though their hair colors were quite different. The boy had orange hair like his father with dark red tips that confused most people, since boys rarely dyed their hair at such a young age. Keiko was willingly to bet that his strange hair color came from his demon heritage, though the boy had showed no other signs of being a demon. The girl had dark grayish blue hair—a sign of her status as an ice maiden and she had demonic powers to back that up. Both had reddish brown eyes that seemed to almost glow in the dark.

Originally, many of the friends had been confused by how Yukina and Kuwabara had conceived such different children, in terms of power and hair color. The ice apparition had been happy to explain it, though even now it sounded a bit strange to her.

"_Oh, I see what you mean!" Yukina said with some surprise. "I forgot that it is different in the Human World. Well, you see...ice apparitions like myself usually have a child once every hundred years. It is always a girl and it is always conceived without the help of a male."_

_Keiko was reminded of how Yukina's mother must have betrayed those standards, since Hiei had been born._

"_But I..." Yukina trailed off, biting her lower lip and staring down at her clasped hands that were entangled with Kuwabara's. He was remarkably quiet and content, letting Yukina run the conversation completely and Keiko was almost embarrassed to witness the pure love and wonder in his eyes that always shone through whenever he looked at his wife. "I wanted a child with Kazuma. So when I sensed the time was right, I..." A blush formed on both their faces._

_Yusuke threw up both hands, waving them crazily. "Whoa, whoa, we get the picture! No need to go on about that particular night!" Keiko shot him a look and he grinned sheepishly back._

"_What do you mean: the time was right?" queried Kurama, one hand gripping his chin as he considered her words. Out of all of them, he seemed the most interested in the actual mating habits of ice apparitions and less on the romantic part of it._

"_Why, when I knew I could conceive my own child! I wanted it perfectly aligned so that we would have two. Just like me and my brother." The aqua-haired girl looked back down at their hands, eyes unreadable. "I did not want a child to be alone." The unspoken words hung in the air. __**Like me**__._

_There was an uncomfortable lull in the conversation, but after a few more minutes the group was able to go on to less serious topics, like if Yusuke and Keiko were ever going to have another kid—a question which sent Yusuke after Botan for her cheekiness._

Keiko was brought back from her memories by the squeals of laughter when Kuwabara picked up both twins and swung them around like two airplanes circling. He tossed them up in the air before expertly catching them in his arms. "Come on you two, time for bed. See you guys later!"

They made their way down the stairs, with echoes of the two children complaining together. "We're not sleepy!" "Not sleepy!"

An arm was slung over her shoulder as Yusuke kissed her temple. "Come on Keiko. We better head home also. Michiko actually fell asleep!" Indeed, the small girl was clutching onto Yusuke's cradling arm, oblivious to the world around her. The girl must have worn herself out during the day to actually fall asleep before getting home.

Readjusting Kane in her arms, Keiko turned to look at Genkai. "Thank you so much Genkai-sama for watching over them."

The elderly woman brushed her thanks aside with a hand. "Forget about it. It's always a pleasure for young ones to be running around this temple. It can get lonely for an old woman in this temple." Her smile was gentle, taking away attention from the harsh lines that had long ago settle on her face that normally accented her age. Keiko was surprised to really realize that Genkai was getting on in the years. And that was an alarming thought.

If her smile was a little off, no one commented on it. "Well, thank you all the same. We should be heading home now, but I hope you won't mind if we visit again soon." She promised to herself that they would spend more time with Genkai—why hadn't they noticed her isolation sooner?

As they walked away, Yusuke waved towards the darkened figure of his teacher. "See you soon, old hag!" He blinked at Keiko's irritated look. "What? I always call her that."

"Not in front of the children, Yusuke!" she hissed back, indicating how Kane was stirring in his doze. Keiko couldn't stop the smile from sneaking across her face when Yusuke lightly bumped her hip as an apology.

They didn't say anything else for a long time, not when they arrived home to Yuki who had been playing with her toys, not when they tucked in their children, and not when they lied in bed, curled around each other. And staring deep into each other's eyes, they knew nothing needed to be said. Yusuke gently caressed her cheek with one hand. She grabbed his hand so that he couldn't withdraw it, laying small kisses into his palm.

Even though they didn't need to say anything to feel the connection between them, Yusuke didn't hesitate to whisper the words that had captured her heart so long ago.

"I love you."

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Thank you for reading. It'll probably pick up the pace in a few chapters, but I'd like to completely set up the current situation first. If you have a moment, please tell me what you think and if there's anything I should work on. Hope you enjoyed!


	2. Reality

Sorry I haven't updated in quite a while. I know there really isn't any excuse, but I have returned. And late is better than never right? Hehe...? Still, I've been getting a bit more inspiration for this story, and I assure you, I intend to write this to the finish. I have a good idea about where this is going, and it's going to be quite the wild ride. Thanks for sticking with me even with my tardiness!

**Note:** Primary school is the same as elementary plus sixth grade.

Primary two is second grade.

I read online that Keiko's birthday is on January 31st, so let's assume it so. This chapter is on the next day.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own YYH. Just the kids and other OCs.

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Chapter 2—Reality

It was still dark outside, though the soft light of the moon peaked into the bedroom through the drawn blinds that both Keiko and Yusuke had forgotten to close again, shining through onto the two lumps under the blanket. A shrill beeping rang from a small alarm clock that flashed 6:01 AM in bright red lights. One hand finally shot out from beneath the sheets and fumbled for the snooze button. A messy brown-haired face emerged as well, eyes still heavily lidded with sleep.

Untangling herself from her husband, Keiko accidentally rolled out of bed, landing on the soft worn carpet with a thud. Still sleepy, she didn't say anything as she pushed herself off the ground and headed for the washroom, rubbing her back through the light material of her maroon tank top, once in a while revealing her pale skin as her shirt rode up.

The bathroom was small and there was a clutter of items on the counter that Keiko shuffled through, looking for the toothpaste, staring up only to check the bags under her eyes. She finally found it in the cabinet, hidden by random cleaning products. Brushing her teeth, she stared vaguely at her appearance. Kami, she hated getting up early in the morning. But she knew that she had to get up in order to get to work on time.

A slouching and yawning Yusuke joined her, hair pointing out in ridiculous angles after a night of tossing and twisting. Keiko held back a smile as he struggled to force it back down into some semblance of normal hair. Yusuke had stopped gelling back his hair ever since he had started working at the Yukimura Shokudo—Keiko's parents insisted upon it, claiming that there were some customers who were actually afraid of him. He had looked so shocked and offended after that comment that Keiko couldn't help but laugh hysterically for the next ten minutes whenever he looked over at her with his pouty, insulted expression.

She spat out the last of the toothpaste, and leaned in to gargle some water. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Keiko let out a long yawn. Reaching for her hairbrush, she had to squeeze passed Yusuke's arms and snake back out with the needed item. She was careful to keep her elbows in as she brushed her hair.

The bathroom would be considered to be (at the least) cramped by most people's standards—Yusuke and Keiko didn't mind too much, since it just meant that they would be close. Their house was a rather small house, but it was home. And Keiko loved it with all her heart, because it was a home that she and Yusuke had made together. It was the home her children were growing up in, and the home that she returned to after work to find solace and love. Even though they were still paying off the house, Keiko knew in her heart that this was the home she wanted more than any other—to have for the rest of their lives.

Her hip bumped into his side as they both leaned in to use the mirror. Neither looked over at the other, but Keiko felt his fingers brush up against her side. "Good morning sunshine." She almost laughed—his voice was croaky with sleep and toothpaste was threatening to drip down his unshaved chin. He sounded like crap, but she thought it was the best sound of the morning.

"Morning to you too, sleepyhead." She bumped his side again, this time purposely. "Don't forget to get Michiko and Kane ready for school." Kane spent his days at Genkai's temple (just as Michiko had) till he was old enough for real education, while Michiko was currently in primary two at the very same primary school that Yusuke and Keiko had gone to.

"Ha, like I'd forget! I've been doing this for a while you know," Yusuke teased, splashing hot water onto his face. "Ow, ow, hot, hot!" he muttered to himself.

Applying eye shadow, she expertly avoided the splashing. "Well, I better get going. I'll see you tonight, all right?" She kissed him on the cheek, even though it was still dripping wet with warm water. "Love you."

"Knock 'em out of the park, Keiko."

She hurriedly changed into a nice pair of black pants and red pastel top, pausing to force on a pair of earrings. Making her way into Michiko and Kane's room, she smiled beatifically at her two slumbering children. They looked so peaceful in their beds—Michiko was in a small pink sheeted bed, already twisting her sheets around messily, just like Yusuke did, while Kane slept quietly in his crib, small animals dangling over his head. Tiptoeing closer, she placed a soft kiss on Michiko's forehead, and the little girl shifted around in response with one arm pulling free of the sheets. Then she turned and leaned over Kane's crib, kissing him on the forehead as well.

"See you two tonight," she whispered. Neither stirred, and a warm feeling swelled up right within her ribcage. Whenever she had a moment, she would contemplate how lucky she had gotten: a husband who loved her dearly and two beautiful children who were healthy, strong, and most importantly happy. She quietly snuck out of the room. The kitchen was just a few feet away, and she paused to grab an energy bar from the cabinet and an orange juice from the fridge. Looking around inside the refrigerator, her eyes scanned each packed and wrapped item before landing on her lunch for the day. "There you are."

Hightailing it to her car in the garage, she turned on the ignition. "Well, guess it's another day at the office," she muttered to herself as she backed out onto the empty road. This early, there were few cars on the road—a fact she could be grateful for.

Keiko didn't really like her job—but she didn't really dislike it either. It was more of a get-to-work-bring-home-bacon type of scenario. If anyone had bothered to ask her what she had wanted, she would have spoken about a job that would bring her satisfaction with people, by feeling like she was making a contribution to the world with people just as passionate as she was about it. As she headed into the office though, she knew that she had entered the executive world where it was all about profit and getting ahead of the other guy before he got ahead of you.

After putting away her lunch into another fridge, she plopped into her seat within one of the small cubicles that so many like her called home. Before she could even boot up her computer, she paused, hearing some giggles and whispers in the cubicle next to her. Leaning over, she looked over to see what the commotion was about. Three people crowded the desk, all looking at some newspaper article with avid interest. She raised an eyebrow at their concentration, and drawled out in her best mimicry of their boss, "And _what_ do we have here?"

They all immediately panicked and tried hiding the article, looking around wildly and running into each other. Keiko bit back a laugh at their antics. One of the two women finally noticed her and gave her a look. "Cut it out guys, it's just Keiko." She attempted to look annoyed, but a smile threatened to ruin her expression. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"Shouldn't you?" Keiko tartly responded.

"Touché," muttered the halfway-handsome man appreciatively, earning a jab in the side from the girl whose lustrous black hair was pulled back into a stiff braid. The last of the three merely looked amused, adjusting her glasses as she handed the article over to Keiko. "Here it is. It's pretty interesting, isn't it?"

Keiko skimmed over the article they had been reading. It was in the back of the paper, taking up a whole two pages, and she felt her lip twitch as she glanced over the drawn pictures. "Aliens?" Her tone was a mixture of amusement and indifference as she tossed back the article. "Why so interested in aliens?"

"It's not just aliens, Keiko! It's crazy, really. These last few years especially, the sightings have gone way up the roof. We may have actual proof soon that aliens do exist!" babbled the first woman with excitement, actually tugging a little on her braid. Keiko looked at her with some resignation—Izumi had always been a little crazy about crackpot theories and tabloids. Sensing her disbelief, Izumi quickly flipped the paper to front. "Don't give me that! Just look here, this isn't just some tabloid! This is the hottest and most reliable paper around, talking about aliens!"

The man, Daichi, nodded in agreement. "It's pretty crazy. I didn't belief it at first either, but it looks like we could actually make contact. Either that, or these are some crazy mutations of animals." He flipped the paper back into place, pointing out some of the artistic renderings of the aliens. "I mean look at this guy, he's been sighted several times. Three eyes imply radiation or something bad like that to me."

The sight of a fat, tiny mockery of Hiei almost set Keiko off into peals of laughter. Struggling to keep her composure, she noted that most of the pictures did indeed resemble different demons—somewhat. _'I guess this is all part of the slow integration of demons and acceptance for them,'_ she mused to herself.

"It's not just that, other newspapers around the world have also started talking about it," explained the other woman whose hair had been bleached blonde, her fingers skimmed across the keyboard as she brought up several websites on the computer. "See, there's even this movement that's been started about how we should be welcoming our alien brethren."

Izumi let out a sigh. "Don't forget Amaya, there're also those movements totally against contact." She glanced over with one chocolate brown eye at Keiko, who had managed to push her way into the cubicle now, making it even more crowded as they all stared at the monitor. "It's ridiculous really. So scared that these aliens are dangerous that they want any alien to be captured and studied—or killed if they resist." Three snorts were the response to her words.

"I'd certainly fight back if some strange being was out to kidnap and dissect me," Daichi proclaimed with some sympathy for the extraterrestrials and both women nodded in agreement.

Nodding with them, more to be agreeable than actually agreeing, Keiko wondered if they would ever realize how vicious some demons could be. In a way, she selfishly hoped that demons and humans meeting would never become a commonplace thing. Certainly, there were some wonderful demons who were kind and funny, who would use their strength for selfless reasons—but there was also the opposite, who craved human flesh and would not hesitate to massacre millions for the fun of it.

"Hey Keiko? Keiko, yoo-hoo!"

She snapped back into reality with an intelligent "huh?". Three sets of dark eyes stared at her. Amaya smiled empathetically. "Not enough sleep?"

Izumi grinned suddenly, grabbing that question and raising her slim eyebrows suggestively. "Not enough **sleeeeeep**?" she actually purred out. "Is someone keeping you awake _all night_, Keiko?" She ignored the attempts of both Amaya and Daichi to cut her off. "You haven't told us anything recently—how **is **that boy of yours?"

A blush blossomed on her face, trailing down her neck to be thankfully hidden by her shirt. "Come off it Izumi!" she protested. "It's nothing like that. We just stayed up a bit late last night because of my birthday party."

Suddenly all three seemed on alert and Daichi ran one hand through his somewhat long dark brown hair that was always getting in the way of his vision. "It was your birthday yesterday?" he queried.

He was cut off by Izumi who shrieked, "_You didn't tell us_?" Eyes narrowed with indignation, she was almost nose-to-nose with the bewildered birthday girl, who was pushed back slightly into the wall of the cubicle as all three of them suddenly seemed to tower over her. "How could you not tell us? We're your work buddies! We would have totally partied-hardy with you!"

She brought up two hands in defense. "W-well, it was mainly some of my old friends from junior high. Besides, we really didn't do all that much since we had to pick up the kids." Her words didn't appear to placate them much, though Amaya backed off a little to close the websites on screen. "I'm not really one for parties," she finished weakly. This was the reason that she had tried to keep her birthday a secret at work.

"Well...I guess we could let you off this time," Izumi finally said after dragging out the moment. "But I think in compensation for not partying with you yesterday, you must go drinking with us tonight."

"Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun." Daichi grinned at her as charmingly as possible, eyes begging her to come.

Tonight? That would be impossible—she had way too many responsibilities to do such a thing. Not to mention her children. She shook her head at them. "I'm sorry but I can't go with you." Before anyone could protest, and by their expressions it was obvious that they wanted to, a voice was heard over the side of the cubicle.

"Hey guys, boss alert!" came the hiss.

Immediately the three women struggled to get out of the cubicle. Izumi took the fast way and actually scrambling up the wall of the cubicle and landing on an awaiting chair, looking only slightly ruffled. With one less person in the way, Keiko and Amaya managed to make their way to their workspaces just in time.

Quickly booting up her computer, Keiko tried to appear busy, shifting through a pile of paper that had been placed on her desk to look over today. Pretending to read it, she suddenly felt eyes on her back and forced herself not to stiffen up. Instead, she casually leaned back in her chair, frowning slightly at the papers while nibbling on the tip of a pen. After another long moment, the feeling disappeared. Taking a quick, casual glance around, she was relieved to see that the boss had gone on to another section.

"All clear?" whispered Daichi's voice.

"I think so. Don't forget to delete the history on your computer," Keiko whispered back. She grinned at the thumbs up that rose above the wall that separated them.

Putting her attention back on her actual work, she was oblivious to world until there was a sudden prickling feeling of being watched, as well as a mental scream of 'Boss-alert' in the back of her skull. Determined to finish the email she had been writing, she waited for her boss to actually say something or wander away.

There was a slight cough behind her before the drawling voice of Yoshida Hitomi spoke. "Yukimura."

Wheeling around in her chair, Keiko smiled politely at her boss. "Yes Yoshida-san?" She blinked when she noticed that there was a man standing slightly behind and to the side of Yoshida, much taller though—maybe even taller than Kuwabara. He was surprisingly good-looking, perhaps because of the mixed blood that was made obvious by his eyes and facial structure, if not his sandy blonde hair. Keiko had never seen him here before.

Yoshida cleared her throat again, reclaiming Keiko's attention. "This is Saito Akira. He's our newest member in this branch, and since you have been a part of the company for so long—" Keiko bit back a smile. That was Yoshida's way of complimenting her on her performance; she would never actually tell an employee that they were _worth something_ in this business. "—I would like you to show Saito around, teach him the ropes, and most importantly...stay out of trouble." The look in her eyes showed doubt at that last warning.

"All right," she said agreeably. Yoshida sniffed before walking away to observe how her other workers were doing. Keiko crossed her legs as she looked Saito over once, trying to determine what sort of employee he would make. The man merely raised an eyebrow in return and smiled charmingly.

His voice was deep and reminded her a bit of the sea in the way that his words rose and fell. "Like what you see?"

"Hmm, okay I guess." She waved a finger at him. "But a little too scrawny to eat."

He grinned at her. "Normally when people start talking about eating me, I assume it's some sort of compliment. This one I'm not so sure." He held out a hand. "My name's Saito Akira as Yoshida-san said. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Yukimura Keiko. It's a pleasure." She liked his grip; it wasn't too firm or weak. "What has Yoshida-san shown you so far?"

"Well basically she showed me where I'd be working in this crazy place, but that's about it." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. His light brown eyes twinkled humorously, and he offered her a hand to help her up out of her seat. "Would you mind showing me around, Yukimura-san?"

She smiled back and accepted the helping hand. Smoothing down her skirt, she nodded. "Certainly Saito-san. If you would follow me?"

After guiding him through the many floors and people within the company—along with accidentally spilling all the coffee on a cart, literally running into one of the higher-ups (Saito had done that honor thankfully), and discovering an unexpected liaison in the copy room on the fifth floor—Keiko found herself honestly enjoying his company—they were even on first name basis! He had discussed his own ideas of how to help the world, and how he hoped one day to gain enough money that he could focus solely on that. She knew how he felt.

"And here we are, back at my cubicle Akira-san. It seems that I must unfortunately end our tour." She smiled warmly at him and curtsied jokingly. She had admittedly loosened up a bit since junior high and was able to laugh and joke freely with most people—it was mainly Yusuke's influence.

He bowed seriously and smiled in return, lighting his face up and making himself look much younger. "It was an honor to be led by you Keiko-san. I hope we can speak some more later."

"It would be my pleasure." Once he had walked away, she plopped back into her chair and swiveled back to her computer, having some more work to do before the end of the day. It had been nice though, to have a change in her normal schedule: to be away from the computer and not just going through paperwork was a great relief on her eyes especially. Her vision wasn't too bad yet, but she had been warned at the optometrist that glasses or contacts would eventually be needed in the future.

The moment that he had left though, three heads popped up from Daichi's side. "Hello Keiko!" they all chorused together, almost giving her a heart attack as she swiveled to face them. Weirdly all three of them had similar grins that sent a shiver down her spine and pity for their target. Oh wait, that was her.

"Um...hi guys?" she responded dutifully, wondering if there was something on her face.

"Hi Keiko!" they greeted together.

Giving them all an uncertain look, she slowly raked her hair back with one hand. "You already said that," she pointed out flatly. "Dare I ask why you are invading the privacy of my square with such strange expressions?"

It was Amaya who spoke up. "He's pretty cute." And she squeaked when Izumi bopped her on the top of her head. "Well he is!" she pouted, sending a glare at the other woman.

The brunette who had been sitting rather peacefully and ready to do actual work before this interruption merely responded with three blinks. What were they going on about? Whatever it was, it looked like Izumi couldn't hold it in any longer, and she began practically bouncing up and down with excitement, almost losing her balance in the process as she tottered between the two cubicles.

"Keiko, is that guy going to work here?"

"Yeah, I think he's going to be in our department. I didn't actually see where he's located though." She bit back a smile, and put her best I-don't-understand-what-you-are-getting-at look on. "What's up?"

There was a brief squabble for power were all three of them seemed to want to say something, with Daichi coming out on top with the threat of kicking the other two out of _his_ office space. His deep, almost black eyes bore into hers. "I think what these two have been trying to say—in their wonderfully subtle ways—" he rushed the last part out in a mutter that made Izumi growl, "—is that we're curious about Mister Foreigner."

"Mister **Hot** Foreigner!" Amaya suddenly chirped up and three sets of surprised eyes suddenly were focused on her; it was more attention than she was used to and she blushed, adjusting her glasses. "Sorry."

The dark-haired woman suddenly looked a lot less likely to burst out of curiosity and a lot more likely to burst out laughing. "Oh-_ho_, so now we all know Miss Ice Queen's type! No wonder none of the boys could ever get a date from you." Sensing that she had hit a weak point, Izumi grinned. "Now it all makes sense! You prefer the sandy blonde—"

"I think that's enough Izumi," Daichi said forcefully. His tone was sharper than usual and Amaya shot him a thankful look for the respite. He was rarely loud or angry, being more of a non-confrontational type, so it was a surprise to Keiko to hear him defending Amaya so strongly. Well, he had always been a gentleman around them, so maybe it really was no surprise. When his smile reappeared, it was as if he hadn't snapped at all. "Well Keiko? Who's the new guy?"

"Saito Akira. He's seems pretty nice and Yoshida-san wanted me to guide him around a little today." She was puzzled as to why they seemed to be making a big deal over him. "He's no foreigner though; he speaks the same way we do. I guess he must be part European—that would explain the hair."

"Yeah, yeah enough about the hair," Izumi dismissed with a wave of her hand. "What we should be discussing is what we're going to do with the fresh meat."

Keiko had always viewed herself as a relatively intelligent woman; throughout her career and while in school she had always been complimented for her brains and quick thinking. Right now though, she had no idea what they were talking about. "Huh?" was what she finally asked, feeling a bit stupider after every moment.

Jerking at her braid, Izumi rolled her eyes in the most obvious of fashions. "Saito! Sure he's cute in a foreign kind of way, but we have to treat all newbies delicately. You know, make sure they're up to snuff and allowed to even converse with our precious Keiko-chan."

It clicked after a moment, and she almost groaned out loud at the unsubtle hints. That's what they were going on about. The Newbie Test—something that had made Amaya cry for days, Izumi punch a former friend in the face (who had transferred to another department after that), and Daichi still wouldn't talk about his test. Keiko's own test had involved several illegal activities that she was certain Yoshida had some inkling about, and that was why her boss still gave her dubious expressions. When she had told Yusuke about it the night after, he had just started laughing and laughing, telling her how proud he was to know he had rubbed off on her in some way.

"He really isn't part of our group though. If you offered it to him, he'd probably head for the hills," she pointed out, trying to save her newest acquaintance from imminent mental trauma at the hands of her friends. Picking up the closest sheet of work, she casually read it over.

Amaya had relaxed again, and she took in Keiko's words thoughtfully, while Izumi was just shaking her head rapidly. "She has a point, Izumi. Saito-san is not one of our 'comrades in arms against the man' as you would put it. He doesn't even know we exist." Izumi merely pouted. "Well that and I have no idea where his cubicle is."

Three sets of eyes turned to Keiko and she elegantly scrawled her signature on the sheet. "Don't look at me; I never saw his work station."

A loud sigh of worldly weariness blew out from Izumi's mouth, and she spoke as if doing them a favor. "Well, I suppose it could wait until we find out if Saito-san has any intentions of even joining our little love nest." Daichi almost choked on air when she phrased it that way. "But once we see some indication—BAM—Newbie Test, here we come!"

Rolling her eyes slightly, Amaya half-grinned half-sighed. "Izumi, how is it that you ever get work done?" Wide eyes of innocence were the only response she got. "...I-I see?" A slight mischievous light entered her own eyes. "Is the answer 'never'?"

"What?" Izumi grimaced but then put one hand on her forehead as if she were about to faint. "My secret! It's been found out! Oh noooo!"

Keiko giggled. "If that was a secret, it was a pretty obvious one." The injured look shot at her merely made her laugh harder.

The phone in Daichi's office began ringing, and he quickly picked it up before someone else could. "Hello? Yes. ...Uh huh. Fifteen minutes? All right. Good bye." He hung up. "Sorry guys, I should probably get going. I've got a little 'surprise' meeting." He used his fingers for quotations marks with a grimace. "I'll see you guys after work?"

Once again three sets of eyes looked at Keiko, all pleading and hoping she would decide to join them. She merely shook her head with a small smile. As fun as it would be to spend time with her coworkers, she couldn't wait to go home and spend time with Yusuke and her kids. That came before anything else, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

After Daichi had left for his meeting, it was not too long till Izumi and Amaya said their goodbyes and headed over to their own cubicles to get some work done—staying around too long meant making the boss suspicious which meant less chance of goofing off. Especially with Yoshida who always seemed extra suspicious of their group. Keiko couldn't fathom a reason why, but she was almost certain that their boss kept a special eye on them whenever she could.

Shifting through the papers on her desk, she let out a soft sigh, hand propping up her chin. She couldn't help but wonder how Yusuke was doing.

* * *

Yusuke was feeling particularly grumpy. The morning had started out okay with sending Michiko and Kane off to their respective schools. They only had one car, which Keiko needed to use in order to get to work on time and Yusuke had no qualms about using his super speed to rush his kids over to wherever they needed to go. In fact, both of his children found it delightful to be sped through the crowds with people barely even able to register them. They would giggle and laugh whenever Yusuke promised to carry them or toss them in the air. Keiko would disapprove if he started throwing them too high (he understood, but still she should trust him) so he usually stuck to tossing them just a few feet in the air.

"So um...can I get...uh," a soft-spoken girl began, squinting at the menu in her hands as if she wasn't certain what would be an acceptable meal. "Mmm..." She pursed her lips, and Yusuke managed to keep the smile on his face.

Brushing back bangs from his eyes, he spoke. "Do you need a few more minutes?" The other two girls across the table giggled loudly over something, and he felt his smile threaten to twitch down to a grimace. When the girl finally nodded sheepishly, he sharply nodded before heading back towards the kitchen.

"Oi! Waiter!" another man called and he paused at his table. "Can we get some refills right here?"

"Of course," he said as smoothly as possible, keeping that plastered smile on his face. "Just a moment." He ignored the man's taken aback look and mutterings about how their waiter looked like he should still be in school.

It was something Yusuke had gotten used to since he had started working here—his "wonderful" little bonus of not aging visibly. Truth be told, he'd happily trade that back for looking older. It was pretty annoying sometimes how everyone treated him like he was still a sporadic teenager on the loose. And the number of times a patrolling officer came up and asked what he wasn't doing in school was downright embarrassing. It was a miracle that he hadn't gotten into any fights with them yet. Still, he couldn't help but bare his teeth slightly in a threatening manner after he heard a few more murmurs about his surprising youth.

"Yu-chan! How are you holding up?"

For once the smile that formed on his face wasn't feigned as he grinned at his mother-in-law. "As good as things could get I guess. People are still being pretty stupid. I just don't get why they can't order so we can get the food ready." He had remembered the lower his voice as he spoke—last time he had complained about the customers, he had been rather loud about it and angered several people (more like the whole restaurant). That had got him a scolding from his in-laws and he had promised to be a little more careful with words before he ran them out of business.

She beamed at him and ruffled his hair before he could protest. "Good. Keep up the good work and we won't fire you for constant insubordination." And with that said, she pushed him towards the kitchen, skittering off to check on the other orders.

Once she had left, he felt the beginnings of a better mood disappear. He truly was fond of his in-laws, almost as fond of them as his own mother. They were probably the only thing that made this job tolerable—with their constant support and kindness that kept him from punching a hole in the wall. If Yusuke could choose his least favorite job now, it would easily be "waiter". _Especially_ after experiencing the job. It required patience, chivalry, good communication with people, patience, and the self-control to not kill someone for not liking his udon and demanding a better plate or he'll sue. If you were to put those traits next to Urameshi Yusuke's name and ask his friends what this meant, they would all immediately say "antonyms". And he would agree one hundred percent with a "hell yes".

Grabbing one pitcher of iced tea and one pitcher of green tea, he quickly moved through the tables, filling whoever's glasses needed more. He tried to keep that fake smile on his face, though it always seemed harder as the hours passed on. _'Just a few more hours. Just a few more hours,'_ he couldn't help but chant in his head.

The girl finally managed to order. Another snide comment from a table about how he must be a dropout (okay so he sort of was). Just a few more hours. Someone complaining about their food and he has to send it back. A kid starts puking and he's on cleanup duty of course. Just a few more hours. More customers were heading in and he had to keep the smile on his face when they ordered. If this kept up he swore he was going to rip someone's intestines out and ask if they'd rather eat that instead of noodles.

When a hand tapped on his shoulder, he was almost surprised to see his father-in-law's smiling face. He wore his apron and chef hat well, exuding experience that Yusuke wished he had—a kind of calm that could weather out any storm in the kitchen. Though beginning to weary with age and wrinkles, the man was still in relatively good shape, at ease in the restaurant and able to deal with men more difficult that Yusuke could be. "Thank you for your good work Yu-chan. I know you have to go pick up Michiko and Kane, so we'll take it from here."

Finally. He breathed a sigh of relief that he had survived one more day, and grinned at his father-in-law. "Thanks. Glad to know you aren't going to try to trick me into a few more hours." His only garnered response was a chuckle. "Well, better get the kids. See you tomorrow."

Pulling off the apron faster than lightning, he tossed it into a basket of other dirty aprons, which would probably be cleaned tonight, knowing his mother-in-law. Without glancing at any of the customers he had just been serving, Yusuke eagerly slipped out of the restaurant and back on the streets. Hands slipping into his pockets and a casual gait immediately transformed him into another punk on the streets—someone you wouldn't want to mess with unless you were ready for a fight. It wasn't something he did consciously; Yusuke had been doing it so long that it came naturally. And it CERTAINLY wasn't his fault that a lot of people on the streets treated him like a punk. So hey, if every guy on the street was going to give him the fisheye and every girl held their purse a little closer when he walked by, could he help it if he was kind enough to be willing to fulfill their expectations of punk-hood?

Urameshi Yusuke. Here to serve.

It almost wasn't surprising that he was immediately assaulted by a wave of unwashed alcohol, smoke, and a hint of...tacos? "Hey." A hand snatched out and grabbed his shoulder with a rough grip, forcing him to stop.

With a bored expression, Yusuke slowly turned his neck so he could slightly see who was holding onto him. "Yeah? What do you want?" A smirk grew when he realized it was one of the new gangs from his good old middle school. Even when the times changed, certain things never did. He hadn't seen one in years, maybe because of luck or maybe because of his aura.

The boy sneered at him, a bandage on his nose and hair slicked back the way Yusuke's used to be. He had been much handsomer of course, Yusuke reminded himself idly as he finally turned to look the boy up and down in an insultingly slow manner. There were three other boys behind him, all glaring with their arms crossed as if to frighten him out of his money. "Look here punk. We don't like you always strutting around like that in our territory." He stuck a finger in Yusuke's face, nearly smacking his nose. "And we've been pretty lax so far with you. But it's time to lay down the rules."

'_Translation: we've been scared shitless of you for years but now I'm going to try to be the big bad boss in order to look good in front of my peons,' _Yusuke supplied in his head. Actually he had been sort of itching for a fight. He hadn't had a good old smash-and-bash in years—the last one he could really remember had been the first tournament in Makai. Since then, Keiko had kept him on a short leash (not that he really minded the _way_ she kept him on that leash) and he hadn't lifted a fist beyond punching Kuwabara (which didn't count). So he lifted one eyebrow and drawled out a response. "Okay, sure. Rule number one: don't bug me. Rule number two: spread the word to the other gangs. Rule number three: get a freaking hair cut—that look only worked on me."

He wasn't surprised when a fist suddenly shot at his face. _'Aw what the hell. It'd be interesting to see how a punch feels,'_ he decided lazily, allowing the fist to smash into his face. He was disappointed. It barely stung. "Are you serious?" he snapped angrily, both hands curled up into fists that were suddenly lifting his opponent so fast that the boy's eyes were threatening to pop out of his skull. "That's your punch? That's all you got? When I was your age I was breaking bones! You could barely bruise a peach on a good day!" He didn't even realizing he had been shaking the boy until he heard the distinct whines and moans of fear. Absently holding the punk up with one hand, he used the other to feel his face, relaxing his expression from a fearsome snarl back to some semblance of calm. Apparently he looked ready to kill.

The normal sounds of the street had gone quiet, and he knew without looking that he and the gang had scared off everyone else on the streets for a good block. Still there was a strange taste of disappointment in his mouth. This was his legacy? These idiots who couldn't throw a decent punch to save a life. And as much as he claimed that his old title of toughest punk of Sarayashiki Junior High School didn't mean anything to him, he still didn't want to leave it to guys who sucked at fighting. "What the hell is this, huh? And you call yourself strong?" Disgusted, he dropped the boy who was still shaking.

"I know you," one of the boys standing to the side said in a hoarse whisper. He had shockingly big black eyes with ridiculously long eyelashes that belonged on a girl rather than a boy. Probably the reason why he became a street thug. "My uncle still carries a picture of you as an example of the type of guy to watch out for. But...it was taken years ago. Over a decade." His voice ended in a whisper.

Yusuke shoved his hands in his pockets and eyeballed him with a grin on his face. "And your point?"

A shaking hand pointed at him. "B-but how you could look the same? Exactly the same."

He couldn't resist. Pearly white teeth flashed into a vicious grin as he stepped closer to the other three, who all instinctively backed away from his killer aura. "Isn't that the billion-yen question?" And his eyes narrowed dangerously as he seemed to loom over them with his presence. "Now get lost."

All four scattered like a pack of rats.

Glancing at a clock through a window, he bit back a curse. Michiko was going to throw a fit if he was late. Recently she had been more and more excited to go home, the sooner the better in her opinion. He hoped it wasn't because of bullies; he had been working on Keiko for quite some time now to allow him to train her to defend herself at least. Slipping into the main streets where cars drove by, he began to pick up his pace.

A light turned green and a white person flashed on the side. He quickly crossed, about to speed up completely when sudden honking captured his attention. And he could swear he heard his name being called. A BMW pulled up to the sidewalk next to him and the window facing him rolled down. "Hey Yusuke. Need a ride?" called a smooth, soft voice.

He peered in and grinned when he recognized Kurama. "Hey what's up man? Don't always see you around these parts. Shouldn't you be working right now?"

"Please Yusuke, I'd prefer it if you joined me." His voice was still polite but firm and Yusuke gave him a funny look but complied, pulling open the door and seating himself. "And I took a day off today to do some errands, or else this coincidence would not have occurred." He smiled slightly as if it really had been quite the surprise to see him. Once Yusuke had shut the car door, he signaled left and got back on the road at an easy pace. "So where are you going? I can drop you off there."

"I'm picking up Michiko and Kane." He knew that Kurama knew the way—he had gone with them to see Michiko's play last year when they had invited him. Yusuke had been brimming with pride the whole time; Michiko had been the star as a floret of broccoli.

They didn't say anything for the next few minutes, Kurama focusing his attention on driving while Yusuke was torn between messing with the radio and sending glances at Kurama, wondering what he wanted to talk about. It had to be something important, why else would he make sure Yusuke got in the car? He rotated the dial and winced at a particularly loud country station followed by screaming of some J-rock band. "Geez, can't there just be some relaxing music for once?" he grumbled. It might have seemed strange that someone as eager for a fight as he enjoyed the classical tunes, but when asked he just claimed that it soothed him.

The car came to a slow stop at a red light. The redhead's hands were relaxed on the wheel. "So Yusuke, have you been keeping up with the news?" It was an innocent enough question that made Yusuke blink in confusion. Not the important, demanding thing that he had expected Kurama to ask.

"Uh, not really. I'm usually at work or keeping an eye on the kids," he admitted sheepishly. If Kurama wanted to talk news, he should look to Keiko—she always seemed to know what was going on. Yusuke preferred it that way, since she would be able to look between the crap and real news and tell him about the best parts.

A red eyebrow rose up. "Really? I never expected you to be the stay-at-home dad." Yusuke bristled and he laughed, putting a hand in the air to placate him. "I know you work; I just meant that I'm glad how you're being such a good father. My mouth ran away from me for a moment."

"Yeah, yeah. Geez Kurama, you're supposed to be the well-spoken one," he grumbled, but grinned to soften his words. Suddenly he leaned over, enough that Kurama had to keep a firm grip on the wheel to keep from swerving to the wrong side of the road. "So tell me Kurama...where are the little Minamino's with the big brains? What's up with the bachelorhood thing?"

Yusuke felt a bit of disappointment when Kurama didn't seem to get flustered at all by the question. He had at least expected some blushing or something! Instead, Kurama responded with an easy, "I just never found the right woman I suppose. Besides my little brother seems to be thriving in that area. He's been dating this one girl for a few years now, and I believe he's going to ask for her hand soon enough."

"Well, congrats I guess. Still, it would have been cool to be at your wedding and see the little ones. Would they have crazy red hair like you or black the way your mom's is?" Kurama shot him a side glance that easily portrayed his amusement.

"Enough about such inconsequential things," he dismissed a little too casually and Yusuke smothered a laugh. Maybe he had bugged Kurama more than the fox demon would admit. "You are...working at the Yukimuras?"

Yusuke let out a sigh, plopping back into the seat of his chair, finally giving Kurama back his personal space. "Yeah, been there for a lot of years now. It's okay I guess. I can make some decent noodles now, but..." He trailed off.

"It's not really your type of work is it?" Kurama offered sympathetically.

"Yeah it's not." He grinned. "Glad I can complain to someone about it. Shit, I love Keiko and her parents are great, but I'm just not cut out to be some waiter or chef. I seriously am surprised I didn't burn down the place yet or scare away all the customers. Geez, you'd think they'd get a hint with me glaring at them all day." One hand brushed his bangs away absently, as if trying to slick his hair back. "I don't know what I'd do though. They're already paying me more than the average employ—probably because I married their daughter. Well that and they love me." He ignored Kurama's dry laugh and looked over at him with a more serious expression. "But what do I have Kurama? I never even finished junior high. I have no degrees and most places won't take me. And the few jobs I could get are really shitty and pay way less than the one I have now. I'm stuck here."

His voice was soft and understanding. "If you had stayed in Makai though—"

Yusuke immediately cut him off with a sharp look and a snap of words. "If I had stayed in Makai I would have lost Keiko. No way was I going to screw that up. She was worth leaving that hellhole." His words were strong and Kurama nodded slightly, but both could see the sadness that was always present, just hidden between his happier persona. No matter what he claimed, Makai was a part of them both, and to abandon it completely hurt in a way no human could understand. It was their homeland and even Yusuke had found a place of solace there—to never breath the air, feel the soil—it felt like an aching hole in his soul had been punched out. He was quieter now. "She was worth it. I see it every day of my life when I look at her or Kane or Michiko. I see it in her smile that never fades and her fucking mood swings when I piss her off. She's always been the one Kurama."

"Well then I wish you happiness."

He punched him lightly in the arm. "You already did that at the wedding, you fucker. You can't do it twice. Still, even if my job opportunities suck, that's okay. I can live with that as long as I can keep living with my family." The sadness was gone, as if it had never been there, buried deep within his dancing brown eyes.

"Still, Yomi would have been happy if you had stayed and worked with him. He would have liked to have you under his authority," Kurama chuckled mirthfully. "With your power, it would be easier to keep everyone in check."

"Yomi? What's he got to do with anything?"

A surprised expression. "Yusuke, Yomi is the current ruler of Makai. He's actually upheld the law against the consumption of humans and invading the human world. If this continues for a few more tournaments, it may become more than just a law—it could be a way of life."

"Really?" He looked away, out the window, unsure of what to say. This was great, but very surprising. He wouldn't have expected Yomi of all people to keep that going. "Shit, here I thought we'd have an influx of demons to start chopping away again. How'd you know Yomi was king? I didn't know you still fought in those tournaments."

"I don't. Yomi and I have kept up correspondence. It's always useful to have contacts in the other worlds. Just in case." He smiled slightly as he brought up another amusing fact. "Plus when I do converse with Hiei, he will gladly inform me of the situation in Makai, if just to keep reminding me how I have abandoned it. He seems to enjoy doing that."

A small frown marred Yusuke's face. Hiei? He hadn't been seen in years, except for the gatherings. In fact, the last time he had tried striking up a conversation with him at one of the few parties he went to, he was more likely to snap at him than have a decent hi-how-are-you-let's-not-kill-each-other-and-be-civil conversation. He realized Kurama had said something else. "Wait, what?"

He repeated with an amused look. "Makai does have something to do with my question about the news."

"What?" He almost tried to stand up in the car, only the seatbelt holding him back. "Are there some renegades? Killings?" A hand waved away his fears quickly before he could do something crazy like jump out of the car.

The car pulled up to the school where a group of children were playing, waiting for their parents to come. "Nothing like that Yusuke! It's—" An excited cry broke through his words, and a loud thump echoed the sudden shudder of the car. Kurama winced but Yusuke grinned as he met the eyes of his daughter who was literally clinging the car door, happily making finger smudges on the window with her waving, causing the glass to squeak against her fingers.

"Daddy! Daddy, you're here!" she shrieked, pigtails flying as she impatiently jumped up and down.

"Hey sweetie." Indicating with his hands for her to scoot away, he finally managed to open the door after she moved away. Once he was out though, seat belt still sliding back, Michiko jumped into his arms, snuggling against his chest. "How was your day?" He felt a fond surge of love as she peeked up at him through dark bangs of hair with a small cute smile on her face.

"Good. Let's go home! Can we play?" She bounded from one question to the next, filled with energy now that her daddy was here to make everything great. "Is that Uncle Kurama? Are we gonna be in a car, huh? Why's Uncle Kurama here? Are we going to a party?"

He laughed while holding her, opening the back door to put her in. "Hold on there, Mi-Mi. We are going home once we get Kane. Yes that's Uncle Kurama and he is here to give us a ride in his car, but there is no party today." Once all her questions were answered, it was easy to slide her into her seat and buckle her in. "Now let's get going." She nodded rapidly, hair bobbing up in down in two tails.

Shutting her door and opening his own, he nodded at Kurama. "Sorry for imposing like this. Once we grab Kane, we'll just run home." He didn't mention the other fact was that Kurama didn't have a baby seat in the back; Yusuke was always careless about his own health, but with his kids he was always extra careful to the point where even Keiko had to hide a smile.

"Not at all. Besides, I'm the one who asked you to join me." His smile was warm as he glanced back at Michiko who happily waved at him from the backseat. All of her uncles and aunts were fond of her and Kane, just as they were of Kuwabara and Yukina's children. None of them were that spoiled, and they all held pure innocence and a wonder for life, reminding them all of what they fought for those years ago. Directing his attention back to the road, he inquired if Kane was at Genkai's and got an affirmation from Yusuke.

The atmosphere of the car was relaxed as Kurama drove them towards the temple. Yusuke once and a while glanced at Kurama, wondering what he had been getting at before Michiko had interrupted them, but whatever it had been was no longer up from discussion. Instead Kurama was listening to Michiko prattle on about the types of flowers she knew (Yusuke laughed inwardly, knowing how much she wanted to impress her uncle) and the redhead would nod back and murmur approvals every time she paused for breath, even after she had finished with actual flower names and had gone on to descriptions that mainly involved color and shape ("The one with the yellow triangle, Uncle Kurama!").

Still confused, Yusuke bid Kurama farewell once they reached the temple, holding Michiko in his arms again. Kurama looked ready to pull away, but he hesitated and motioned Yusuke closer to the window. "We'll talk more later, all right Yusuke?" He correctly interpreted his friend's expression and smiled politely. "Do not worry; it's nothing too serious right now. I'd just rather you be aware. Please, both of you take care and tell Keiko and Kane that I say hi." With those parting words, he finally did drive away, leaving Yusuke even more bemused than before.

He glanced down at the little girl in his arms, whose face was pressed against his shoulder. "Well, let's get Kane all right Mi-Mi?" No matter how Kurama dismissed his words as being not important, Yusuke felt as if there was more to it. Kurama had looked sort of...concerned about something. Occupied. Whatever it was though, Yusuke couldn't do or say anything until he confided into him. And it looked like it was a topic he didn't want the children to hear about or else he would have told him while Michiko was in the car.

With more questions than answers at the moment, he decidedly pushed aside his curiosity about Kurama's words, his frustration at the job situation, and all other worries to the back of his mind. Right now, he just wanted to be with his kids and play with them while they are still young and innocent. He walked up the long, long stairway with his little girl trustingly holding onto him. And with that, he was satisfied.

* * *

And that's the end of this chapter. I've started work on the next and hopefully will get it done soon. Thank you so much for your patience and if you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to ask or tell. Thank you!


	3. The Burgeoning Clouds

I've been pretty busy, so apologies for the wait! I also had a miniature writer's block at one point, but I think I've found my rhythm again, and hopefully the next chapter will come sooner. Please enjoy, and thank you very much for your reviews—I really appreciate the feedback. Oh and Happy Chinese New Year for those of you who celebrate it! Oh yeah, it's Valentine's Day too.

**Disclaimer: **I definitely have no ownership over Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters. Sigh.

* * *

Chapter Three—The Burgeoning Clouds

He had never intended to come back here.

(_It wasn't important—he didn't care—it was pointless to dwell on something that could never be—it was all foolishness which he shouldn't be participating in._)

Those were just some of the things he would remind himself bitterly every time he came. But it didn't stop him from coming. And when he saw her face, so joyful and certain that everything was right in the world, all those thoughts always faded away into a mist. He couldn't get away. Not from her.

His eyes focused immediately on her hand as she flicked it up, a pale slender appendage that seemed graceful with every movement. She was baking again. Every time he came, she seemed to be on a new recipe with her hands buried in flour, hair up in a messy ponytail, and her eyes riveted to the pages of a cook book. It was a cook book he knew well, because he had been there, sitting in Kurama's room when he had been looking through an online catalogue. It had caught his attention and he had stared at the image till the other man had given him an amused look and asked if he was considering a new hobby. He had scowled in response, and that had been the end of that conversation. Three weeks later he had learned that Kurama had sent the book to Yukina as a gift from him while he had been away in Makai.

He hadn't known whether to kill the fox or thank him. He still didn't know.

This though was exactly why he tried to stay within Makai, rarely travelling to Ningenkai without reason. It was a reminder of what couldn't be. Besides...she was happy without him in her life. And he could live with that as long as she kept smiling like that.

A sound reached his ears and he realized that she was humming to herself. It was a happy, sweet sound, and it brought to his mind an image of a peaceful small village covered in snow—she had always been too gentle for the demon world in his opinion. A secret, small part of him was glad she had come to Ningenkai, where she could be safe and thrive without conflict.

He turned to leave, hidden within the branches and leaves of the trees, satisfied. If Yukina had found some peace in this world, then it would not be Hiei who would fight against Ningenkai. She did not need her brother now—she had the family she had longed for without him ever breaking his oath. As he slipped away though, he felt a strange pain in his chest that caused him to pause, feeling his chest under his hand with some confusion.

He was content with his place—wasn't he?

'_You're acting like a fool human,'_ he sneered at himself irritably, yet he stayed hidden within one of the trees that surrounded the Kuwabara property. Forcing his hand away, Hiei tried to bring back the peace of mind that he had felt just moments ago. But it had dissipated in the wind and wasn't about to return.

"Hey shrimp is that you? What are you doing here?"

Hiei felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation as he looked down to see Kuwabara looking up at him with a surprised expression. They had never seen eye to eye in Hiei's opinion. Kuwabara had no sense of what it meant to be a demon, and he often made foolish mistakes because of his belief that demons should act the same way as humans. One example was his treatment of women. He seemed to think that women were to be protected, cherished, and never harmed no matter what the situation. That was a stupid belief. Demon women were powerful and vicious just as demon men. It was killed or be killed in Makai and only strength would bring you respect. Unlike Ningenkai, sex made no difference—if anything they had more equality in that violent world than in this supposed "sophisticated" culture—something that always amused Hiei.

Regarding Kuwabara with an even expression, he merely crossed a leg over his other, relaxing against the trunk. Absently, one hand ran over the hilt of his sword. "None of your business, fool." He looked away purposely, knowing that Kuwabara would catch the hidden message. _You're not worth it._ And just as expected he could practically here the sputtering and feel the anger boring into the side of his head.

He never did understand why insulting the idiot had such effectiveness, but it was a weapon he would use just like any other. A demon with the amount of power Kuwabara had would not be riled so easily. Certainly, the weaker in power and mind might, but not one as strong as the oaf. And contrary to Kuwabara's attitude, Hiei wasn't bothered by comments about his height. He was smaller than most humans—so what? How did that affect his ability to fight? The answer was that it didn't; he had enough speed to make up for the shorter range, along with an ability to perform more difficult maneuvers because of his smaller stature. He could kill Kuwabara in twenty-seven ways in the time it took for him to say "you are short". Fifty-four if he was allowed to carry a pinecone.

Kuwabara seemed to be arguing inwardly before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, visibly relaxing his tensed up shoulders. He scratched his head, looking to the side rather than up at Hiei. "Look if you want to come in and stuff that's fine. Yukina would probably be happy to see you."

Only a blink was the indication of his surprise at this request. Immediately his eyes narrowed, looking even more dangerous and angry as the fire demon wrapped himself up into his cloak, hand no longer reaching for his sword. Those close to him would be able to recognize his discomfort from the way he shifted on the branch—he had not expected this turn of events. "No she wouldn't." His head almost jerked back at his own words, which had slipped out without them meaning to.

Kuwabara looked dumbfounded and for once he was ready to defend the shrimp, no matter how much they argued and fought. "Are you kidding me? Don't tell me the all-powerful Hiei has an image problem! Yukina would love to see you; I know that for a fact." The man up in the tree seemed to be ignoring him, but the fact that he just hadn't moved and left gave Kuwabara courage to continue. "She talks about you too you know. Says nice things which I don't think you deserve, and hopes you'll come visit once in a while." He slipped his hands in his pockets sheepishly but his gaze didn't leave Hiei's face. "We would like you to visit us once in a while. And I'm not the smartest guy around, but I think you'd like to visit us too."

For an instant, it looked like Kuwabara had actually outtalked Hiei, the demon's face shocked into slackness, cloak released from limp hands to blow away and threatening to get caught in the wind and branches. A strange expression of intense loneliness crossed his face, long enough to shock Kuwabara, before it was replaced by a cold anger—so quickly that Kuwabara wasn't even sure if he really had seen that moment of unguarded freedom.

"I don't need you _fools_," he snarled so viciously that spit actually burst from his lips. "I have no interest in your stupid games of playing family. Continue this and even an idiot like you will realize the end result. And it will not be pretty." It was almost unnoticeable, but he flinched just slightly at his own words, as if he revealed something of his own thoughts that he had never intended to let out.

He vanished, leaving Kuwabara more annoyed: irritated at himself for being so nice to the ungrateful shorty but also a little concerned for Hiei. He shoved that care deep away into his mind though, not wanting to feel guilty for something he didn't cause. If the shrimp wanted to screw himself up till he had no one to care for him, it was none of Kuwabara's business. Still, his last words were ominous—was this a bit of truth revealed in a moment of anger? Or just more threats from a demon who never gave all that he promised?

Shivering as the wind picked up, he pulled his jacket closer and headed into the house, glad to be done with his job for the day and to see his beautiful wife and kids once he reached the door. It wasn't often that he got left off of work early like this, and he was determined to make the most of it.

* * *

"Ogre! Where are my reports?" Koenma irritably snapped, rapidly stamping his way through papers that he spared a quick glance for. Anyone who thought that he was careless though, never really reading what he agreed to, would be sadly mistaken. He had made it an art of recognizing exactly what he was stamping, to the point that he could read each page with a look. As if to prove it, he disgustedly tore up one report after skimming it. "Rubbish!" he grumbled to himself, returning his attention to the other papers in piles that seemed to grow every time he paused for breath. "Ogre!"

Wincing from the side, shoulders hunching in, Jorge raised his hands meekly in an attempt to placate his boss. "I'll find out right away, sir." He inched away quickly, practically shoving the door open to escape the room and grabbed the nearest demon, who was practically jerked back, papers flying everywhere.

"Huh?!" Glasses jarred, the demon feebly protested the sudden proximity. "Uh..." He adjusted his glasses meekly. "Can I help you?"

"Listen pal, there is a very angry little man behind this door who will skin both you and me if I can't acquire the latest reports on activity in Makai, so I suggest you help me before we become rugs in Koenma's living room," he said in a quiet, even tone that was only contrasted by his shaking hands. "So can you tell me where the documents are? It's a simple matter really; just one that will determine how long we keep our jobs."

Blinking with growing apprehension, the light orange ogre pushed up his glasses again onto his large protruding nose that resemble an upside-down spade. "Uhhh, well that's not in my jurisdiction. I work with paperwork related to watery deaths in Ningenkai that involve more than one person but less than four." He regained some of his composure and not-to-gently shoved Jorge's hands away in order to start picking up his papers. "Paperwork which _you_ have scattered everywhere. Now, I must get going and complete this set before the next death rush starts up again. And you _know_ how long it takes to fix messes like this—uh, hey, don't just walk away!"

But Jorge was already striding away in a completely different direction, having no desire to listen to another pompous, self-righteous demon. _'Ugh, oranges. Always the worse,'_ he grumbled mentally, looking for a decent blue ogre who would certainly be more accommodating. He winced, thinking of the few precious seconds he had left before Koenma would probably summon him again and angrily demand reports Jorge did not have access to. He turned his eyes to the skies and sighed mournfully. "Why am I always in trouble when Koenma's in a bad mood?" The ceiling had no answer for him, and Jorge continued on, heading into the traffic of ogres streaming from one end of the room to the other with continuously growing stacks of paper and new news of deaths.

Back within Koenma's office, the irritable child-appearing ruler was still stamping through his papers as quickly as possible. _'If the ogre doesn't bring me those reports soon...'_ he promised himself threateningly. Things were still casual and relaxed between the three worlds, but Koenma had started feeling antsy—a gut feeling that he needed to be prepared for the next issue bound to arrive soon enough. The demon world wasn't going to remain so friendly with Ningenkai forever. All they needed was one ruler who decided to go back to killing, and suddenly Koenma would have his hands full with an all-out war...or maybe even a massacre. And what about the humans—they certainly weren't going to remain oblivious forever, especially—

A sudden ringing broke through his thoughts.

He picked up the cell phone, not even bothering to glance at the number. If someone had this number, than it wouldn't matter who they were—it would be important. "Koenma here." He paused, clenching his pacifier between his teeth as he recognized the voice on the other line. "Oh, it's you." He hadn't intended for his voice to be so flat, but at this point he was feeling stressed enough that he didn't mind trouncing over someone's feelings.

"No need to sound so friendly Koenma," the amused man on the other side said softly.

"Yeah, well it's rather hectic right now." He wanted to snap at the phone, but all that would achieve was more amusement on the other end—an annoyance when dealing with free agents. Problems were beginning to pile up, and things that had seemed so far away were just getting closer and harder to deal with. Makai. Reikai. Ningenkai. Koenma had to think about them all and how they would affect each other without destroying the already tenuous balance between the three. Certainly, his realm was Reikai, but the other two were just as important in the grand scheme of things. And this was his ally on the phone—someone he could not isolate if he wanted any hope of keeping all three worlds alive in ten years. "What is it?"

There was a pause, and then words. At first they were so soft that Koenma found himself unconsciously straining towards the phone, trying to catch them all. "...How long? I have already begun preparations, but I need to know how much longer." When Koenma said nothing, the voice stayed at the same softness, but there was now steel in the words. "Listen Koenma, I have agreed to your rules and swore to follow your commands, but I refuse to do this blindly. You will tell me, or this deal will end here and now."

It wasn't that he was trying to hide the information; it was more that he wasn't sure how to tell him. When the silence threatened to stretch out again, he cleared his throat, deciding just to blurt it out rather than risk losing one of his few important allies. He had wanted the answer...so he was going to get it. But Koenma knew that it wouldn't be pleasant.

"Three months." The toddler wasn't surprised to hear silence at the other end. Even he had been surprised when he had checked the files. "That's the best scenario, but it's more likely to be closer to two. That's all the information I have."

"Do you know how it will occur?" The words were carefully chosen if quick, as if to avoid any more emotion than necessary. It was better to treat it all rationally without any involvement than to grow angry. At least, that was what Koenma was certain his ally was thinking.

His mouth creased into a frown behind the sucker. "To dig that kind of information up would take weeks. I've given all I can at the moment. Do you even realize how difficult it was to just casually find that out without alerting any third party? And I'm supposed to be in charge of this place—yet I still had to sneak around for this." He huffed with irritation. "Does it make it any easier, knowing how soon she'll die?"

Another long pause. Koenma wondered if he had hung up after that question. But finally, there was a muted response. "Thank you for the information Koenma." And all Koenma could hear after that was a click and then the dial tone.

Snapping his cell phone shut, he contemplated tossing it across the room so that no one could call him and add to his headache. Only the knowledge that it wouldn't ease his temper and only cost him a phone stopped him from completing the thought with the action. He gently placed the small object on his desk, burying his face into his small hands. Why did this stuff always happen when his father was away? It seemed like he was always dealing with the messiest times.

"Koenma, sir! I think I've found the reports!" Jorge happily shouted as he barged back into the room, papers crinkling and flying as he struggled to keep them in his arms. It had taken some very strong persuading to force them away from their rightful owner, but he would have eagerly done it again to avoid angering his boss.

"Good. Bring them over," he ordered, resuming working mode. There was no point in moaning about his situation now. All he could do was try to be prepared enough to save all three worlds from eventual destruction. It really sucked being in charge.

* * *

He moved his head one way. A pair of wide intrigued eyes bobbed and twisted with him. He moved the other way and they followed him there as well. Finally he crossed his eyes, and Yuki yowled in a confused shock, leaping away to find someone who wouldn't confuse her so. Yusuke laughed, readjusting his eyes to normal as the kitten licked her paw, pretending she hadn't just been startled by him—in fact, it was as if he didn't exist to her anymore.

"You're becoming more like a woman every day Yuki," he teased. As if sensing the insult to womankind and catkind, her eyes narrowed into slits and she suddenly sent out a paw flashing with claws which Yusuke barely dodged. "Yeesh! You're faster than most demons I've met! Sorry, sorry. Enough with the sexist jokes or I might end up as nothing more than shreds." That seemed to appease her to the point where she padded back over to him, allowing him the honor of petting her which he did so without reluctance.

"What would Keiko think?"

He could almost hear the smirk in her voice, and he didn't even turn as he responded. "Lighten up, granny. She'd probably be happy that I'm getting along with the cat." He blinked when Yuki suddenly pranced away. Did she just leave once she had gained his full attention? What a weird cat. "I guess I should thank you for looking after Kane and Yuki-_hime_ over here." The kitten sure acted like she was a princess.

"You guess?" Genkai snorted as she lightly (for her anyways) kicked him with one delicately clad foot, forcing him to stand. "Idiot. You should be thanking me profusely for all the nurturing I do for your kids. And now your pet? This isn't a zoo you know." She paused. "Though if this keeps up, I may start charging an entrance fee."

Scowling at her as he rubbed his leg, Yusuke formed the beginnings of a sullen pout. "You wouldn't really do that to me, would you, old hag? I thought I was your favorite student."

She snorted again, a roll of the eyes emphasizing her lack of sympathy. "My only real student, thank Kami. Any more of your kind and I'll probably have an ulcer within the first week of training." She barked out a laugh before jerking her head in the direction of Michiko and Kane. "Now, if you'd give me some time with them, it'd be a different story. I can already tell that Michiko is going to be an excellent close range fighter, and though Kane is still a bit young, I think he'll be the fastest thing around since Hiei left. All you need to do is—"

"No." He cut her off abruptly, ignoring the fact that he himself had been toying with the idea of training them for days now. "You promise you wouldn't teach them any combat till we gave the okay. Are you going back on your word?"

Lifting a slim pink eyebrow, Genkai looked up at him with amusement. He towered over her much smaller frame, but that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. "Please, Yusuke. Do you think my word means so little to me? I haven't trained them at all to fight—no matter how promising their structures are. But it pains me to see potential wasted like that. I know you and Keiko mean the best when you try to keep them away from fighting and talk of demons, but they are going to grow up eventually. And there isn't anything you can do to stop that." The words came smoothly, like she had said this before, repeated it over and over to the man who could have been a stone for all he appeared to listen. In fact, they had had this argument before, many times, but her promise to them not to train their children in physical combat kept her from doing any more than arguing with Yusuke.

"I know they're going to grow up. But they're still young. Michiko is only seven and Kane—damn it Genkai, he's three! Three years old is too young to fight." He didn't even realize his teeth were mashed together in a grimace of frustration.

"Those sound more like Keiko's words than yours," she noted dryly. "Tell me, my oh-so-intelligent student: what do you really think? Keiko means well, but she is no fighter. She doesn't know what you and I have experienced, and if Kami is kind, she never will. But these children are soon going to enter a world where nothing is so simple and kind. Don't they deserve protection? The ability to defend themselves against any who try to hurt them?" Her eyes were no longer on Yusuke, but turned toward his children. She looked old for a moment, older than Yusuke had ever seen her, and very, very tired. "I only want what's best for them."

He was looking at them too now, watching them play an imagination game where both appeared to be animals, crawling on the floor on all fours. The idea of them no longer so innocent and sweet was a painful one, and he pushed it away. He mumbled the same defense that he had given before, unwilling to see them begin the steps down a painful, lesson-filled road. "They're too young. Maybe...in a few years."

Genkai merely sighed at that, a bare wisp of breath that was almost silent. Standing side-by-side with her student, she shook her head. "Very well Yusuke. But think about it. Bring it up to Keiko and for the sake of your children..." She eyed his profile. "...don't dally too long."

His voice was softer now, a rare view of the older, more mature Yusuke. "I know. And I know how much you care for them." He looked back to her and was about to inquire about her health, as he always did when coming over, when something in the corner of his eye made him jerk, staring. And he felt his muscles automatically tense into stone, body readying into attack mode, eyes narrowed with anger and teeth barred in a snarl, when a blur of a hand shot out and pulled him back.

"Don't be stupid."

Eyes whipping back and forth between the demon standing with his children and the small, wizened woman holding him back, Yusuke growled at her. "What the hell is this, Genkai?" Muscles strained against her grip, but he did not dare apply more force or risk breaking her wrist. "I told you to keep your demons _away_ from my children!"

She was calm still, unmovable as the mountains. "Stop overreacting. She's harmless Yusuke. I would never risk them and you know it. Just look and you'll see this for yourself."

"All I see is a demon who could kill them with one blow," he said softly, but he reluctantly stayed where he was, watching the demon with a look that should have seared her to nothing but a burnt stain on the carpet. "How could you do this?"

Genkai ignored his question, and spoke sharply. "Lei, come here."

The demon actually flinched at her tone, meekly backing away from the children and cringing her way towards Genkai and Yusuke. It was almost a shock compared to her deadly appearance. Dark green spikes ran down both tanned brown arms and ended at the wrist with a bracelet, each thorn nearly as large as her hands, and leafy green ears drooped beneath chunks of deep red hair. One clawed hand absently trailing down her tattooed cheek to her slender throat covered by large circular pieces that made up a necklace, Lei seemed to shake with every step that brought her closer to them. Bright sapphire eyes were lowered to the floor as she spoke in a gravelly, almost hoarse voice. "Y-yes, Genkai-sama?"

Yusuke almost recoiled with shock when he followed her gaze downward to her feet, which were similar to raptor feet except for two spikes that were hammered into each toe. Eyes quickly scanning the rest of her, checking for signs of potential danger, he noticed a disturbing pattern. What he had thought were bracelets and a necklace were all protrusions of metal objects that appeared to have been forced into her wrists, neck, and feet. How was she even breathing?

In contrast to Yusuke's careful scrutiny, Genkai seemed barely aware of the way she looked. "Lei, this is Urameshi Yusuke—father of Michiko and Kane. It's time you see what a teenage human looks like. Notice they do not look all that different from some demons. But this skin color is the basic color of all humans. Maybe a bit darker or lighter, but yellow or brown is always the base." Her words were brisk but kind, directing Lei's attention with quick points of her fingers. "Don't shy away from him—he's not going to bite you."

Bowing deeply, Lei seemed ignorant of the way her hair flopped over her face, blocking her features completely. "H-hello Ur-rameshi-san." This time her voice was much closer to a squeak. It was becoming obvious to Yusuke that she was scared of him, maybe even scared of everything. Not only her movements, but her scent was filled with fear that actually grated his senses. It was so unnatural for a demon that he had to shrug off the urge to shake her and demand that she quit faking it.

"Um...hi," he managed awkwardly. Once he greeted her, Genkai released his wrist, and he blinked at his mentor who appeared to be ignoring him, before turning his attention back to the confusing mess that was supposed to be a demon. "Uh, you like kids?" He was feeling more and more awkward, but no matter how he tried to hold onto that feeling of anger and protectiveness, it was difficult when the focus of all that was too busy bowing to you to incite anger.

She didn't look up, still in a deep bow. "Y-yes Urameshi-san. Children are the life blood of all and must be cherished." She sounded like she was reciting some life-fulfilling mantra, speaking the words reverently, almost caressingly.

"That's...good."

"Lei, keep your head up," Genkai instructed, and nodded when Lei jerked her head up, blood red hair wafting through the air with her too-quick movements. "You have no reason to act like this idiot is any better than you."

"Yes Genkai-sama," she agreed in the same throaty, hesitant voice. Still she wrung her hands, seemingly unaware of the spikes that were plunged within her body, and her eyes kept sliding to the side, as if she wanted to flee.

Sensing her breaking point arriving, Genkai smiled gently. "Go back to the children, Lei. I believe they want to play with you some more. We can discuss your instruction later."

Bobbing up and down gratefully, the demon quickly scurried away back to the children, bare talons skittering noisily against the wooden floor. Yusuke watched her with puzzlement coloring his face. His earlier rage had quickly dissipated in the face of such a strange anomaly of a demon. Scrabbling for the remains of his anger, he turned to glare at his mentor, voice in a hiss so as not to alert Lei that they were discussing her. "Old hag...what was that? _What_ was that?" He didn't expect her to suddenly glare back.

"_That_ as you call it, idiot, was a very nice girl with a hard past. I never expected you of all people to be so judgmental of demons. She's been here for over ten years now, and I checked her out very carefully before allowing her near Michiko and Kane." She said the last part firmly, repeating her earlier assurances with some irritation.

He grimaced. "One of your rehabilitation demons then?" Eyeing the girl up and down, he shook his head, feeling the first pangs of guilt. She did seem like a nice girl, even with those strange spikes. But he wasn't about to admit that he might have overreacted. "What's with the uh..." He pantomimed stabbing himself in the neck.

"A little reminder of her enemies. If it weren't for her affinity to the _uzkat _trees in Makai, she would be dead. Apparently her whole family was hunted down by a group of cat demons who wanted control of their _uzkat_ forest. They tortured her, but her abilities merged the weapons into her body—they're literally part of her now, and if you tried to remove them, you'd kill her."

"Ew. That sucks. But...how did she escape?"

"Her mother devised a plan, and snuck Lei out while she offered herself to the demons." There was a disgusted look on Genkai's face, and Yusuke was sure it wasn't for the mother, but for the cat demons who forced her into such a position. "I assume they accepted, and that gave Lei enough time to flee. Lei was very vague on that part, and it's obvious that there is some psychological damage from the whole ordeal. She spent months avoiding them, and found her way into Ningenkai by chance. I found her and brought her here and I've been trying to help her ever since."

A confused thought bubbled up into his consciousness. "How were you able to find her?"

She smirked smugly at him and laughed. "I have my ways."

He pouted at the vague answer, knowing she wasn't going to elaborate no matter how much he pried. Still watching the strange demon shyly bend down to speak to his children, he felt the last vestiges of anger fade completely. It really was difficult to feel threatened by something so harmless. So weak. She was one of the few demons he had ever sensed lacking complete bloodlust, and that had thrown him off more than anything. Crossing his arms and fidgeting from one foot to the next, Yusuke finally sighed. "I guess I should trust your judgment. If you say this Lei girl won't harm them...then she won't."

She rolled her eyes, voice drier than ever. "Thank you Yusuke. It makes me feel so much better to know that my idiot student approves of the one demon I allow near his children. It's absolutely fulfilling my greatest dreams to have my judgment trusted by a boy decades younger than I."

He grinned at her. "Well, you liked me, so it's hard to figure out if you really can judge people correctly."

"Hmph. Whoever said that I liked you?" She laughed when his face fell. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad you aren't trying to kill Lei right now. She is a very sweet girl, and I think this is just what she needs to start."

"Start what?"

A smirk grew on her face and she smugly shut one eye. "If I told you everything, it wouldn't be much of a surprise now would it? You'll see soon enough Yusuke. I have big plans for the future, and I intend to see them into fruition before I die. Lei...she's just the first step."

There was no stopping Genkai when she was excited about a new project like this. Yusuke wanted to grin and roll his eyes at the same time. Still, whatever she was planning probably was a good thing—Genkai was always thinking about the future and how to reap the most benefits for those she loved. It would be interesting to see what she was going to do. Even if she wouldn't tell him. Still eyeing Lei slightly, Yusuke ran one hand through his still un-gelled hair. He just couldn't bring himself to let go of his distrust. Not when his kids were involved. "You'll keep an eye on her, right?"

"I knew it wouldn't be so easy for you to just let things be," she muttered under her breath. "Yes Yusuke, I won't let her be alone with the children. Give it a few days and you'll find yourself grateful for another babysitter."

He doubted that he would be. But he didn't want to start another row with his teacher, especially in front of the children. So he merely jerked his head down once, eyes unable to move away from the demon. "We'll see."

* * *

Something was a little screwy here.

It was obvious that something was on Yusuke's mind that night. He seemed distracted, and whenever she asked him a question or for his opinion, Keiko would have to repeat herself to bring him back to reality. She frowned slightly to herself, a scrunch of the nose, arms wrapped around her knees as she sat upright in their bed. Her eyes followed her husband closely, trying to figure out what it was that was bothering him.

Ignorant of her curious gaze, Yusuke pulled his shirt off his back, grumbling a little when his elbow got caught in the cloth. After a brief struggle with the article of clothing, he finally managed to toss it down into a laundry basket by their bed, and he began rubbing the back of his head nervously. Sign number one. He glanced her way before quickly looking away, fidgeting with the drawstring of his baggy pants. Sign number two.

She let out a sigh and he almost flinched. Smiling her sweetest smile in his direction, Keiko knew he was really bothered by whatever he was thinking about. Sign number three—and this was just thirty seconds of observation. They had been silent for more than ten minutes now after the conversation trailed off every time Yusuke got distracted, and Keiko finally decided to break the strange quiet that had lulled over them. "How was your day at work today?"

Snorting, he plopped himself on the bed next to her, arm automatically wrapping around her waist. "Same as usual. Stupid customers, stupid orders, and people who keep thinking I'm skipping school. Seriously pisses me off." He paused when she laid her head on his shoulder, and he smiled over at her. "Still, your parents seem to think I'm doing okay."

"That's good." She knew being a waiter wasn't his ideal job, but she was grateful for his willingness to work for their kids. It was tough for him to get a job, especially with his earlier reputation as a roughneck and his lack of any diploma. Still she wouldn't have had him any other way. He was mature in ways that most people would never achieve, especially when it came to real life and death—even if he was still immature in other ways. "I met a new guy at work today. Foreigner."

The moment she had said the word "guy" his grip on her tightened and he drew her into his chest. "Really?" Though his tone was casual, the muscles were evident and hard on his chest, and she almost bit back a smile at his over protectiveness and need to establish his claim. She rested a small hand onto his arm, fascinated by the tenseness of his bicep, trailing a whimsical pattern onto his skin.

"He was interesting. I think Amaya likes him—based on looks though, not personality."

He blinked at her, such an open, boyish look that she smiled wider. "Amaya? Really? Miss Serious Slash Ice Princess? I thought you said she never showed interest in boys." He shrugged. "Actually I was beginning to think she might be a lesbian." When Keiko began choking on her own saliva, he quickly thumped on her back with concern.

Gasping for breath, she let out a laugh. "A-Amaya? No, she's never been interested in women. I guess she just has a special type. We don't get many foreigners, and I guess that could explain her strange love of bleached hair." She tapped one finger to her lips in thought. "It does make sense now. She's usually so uptight about rules and regulations, yet she was the first to defy standards with her hair. I wonder if she and Saito-san could actually get together—ow!" She scowled at him fiercely, though he had only lightly tapped the top of her head with a fist. "What was that for?"

He shook a finger at her teasingly. "I know that look Keiko. That's your rare but frightening matchmaker look. I think you should just let it be—remember last time you tried to set someone up with Izumi?"

"Hmph. That only ended poorly because Izumi got too nervous and drank a lot before hand. It would have been fine otherwise." She stuck her tongue out at him and let out a squeal of surprise when he nipped it lightly with his lips. "Ew, Yusuke!" But they were both laughing now and all his distantness was gone.

He leaned down, planting a warm kiss against her smiling lips. Reaching a hand up into his messy, free hair, Keiko responded with passion, happy to just be with her love. This lasted for a few long minutes before they broke away and she played absently with his hair, relaxed in his arms.

"What's wrong, Yusuke?" she finally asked, still extremely aware of the strangeness of earlier. He stiffened against her, but forced himself back into relaxation with trained ease. If she hadn't been lying against him, she never would have even noticed it. He made as if to rise and she pushed him back down with one firm hand, rolling over to pin him down with her body. They were practically nose to nose now, though he was casually looking to the side. "What's on your mind?"

He reluctantly met her serious brown eyes. For a moment the world fell away and it was just the two of them, floating in an endless space. Heartbeats thumping softly in unison, the couple drank in each other's faces. Caressing the side of her face, he let out a sigh and the moment was gone. He looked away. "It's nothing. I just need to think about some stupid stuff." Giving her his most roguish grin, he changed his caress to a teasing pinch of her cheek. "I'll tell you all about it if you'll just give me some time. 'Kay, Keiko?"

There wasn't much she could say in response. One of the things she had learned while married to Yusuke was that when he asked for time to think, he meant it. And he would tell her about it afterwards, once he had made whatever decision was on his mind. So she smiled at him and gently kissed him on the nose. It was cold, but a strong nose—she had always been fond of it. "All right. Tell me about it when you've figured it out." She flicked his nose. "Just don't take too long. I don't like being ignored for some silly decision," she teased. "Or else you might end up on the couch for a few nights."

"Aw, you wouldn't really do that to me, would you?" She looked at him for one solemn moment before looking away. "Keiko!"

* * *

Well that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed; don't hesitate to tell me what you think. Thanks for reading!


	4. The Skies Are Blue

Chapter four up! I'm actually pretty excited because I've already started writing quite a bit of the next chapter and of some upcoming stuff (that comes later). Hopefully the next chapter will be up quickly. Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not own YYH or its characters.**

* * *

Chapter Four—The Skies Are Blue

A ringing phone startled Keiko out of her trance. She had been reading another report about some potential upcoming figures for the next month; the dryness of the material had started make her eyes glaze over though. Picking up the phone smoothly with one slender hand, she brought it up to her ear. "Urameshi Keiko, how may I help you?" The words were automatic and easy—she didn't get called often, but every employee had had the greeting words pounded into them, whether it be a customer, a friend, or even a boss. It was a sure way to get fired if a boss called and you weren't following company words.

Even years after the fact, it still sent an electric tingle through her when she got to use Yusuke's last name. To think they were really married. Sometimes she still secretly pinched herself to make sure this really was happening, that he wasn't still in Makai somewhere or on a mission for Koenma. If she ever woke up from this dream...that would be a real nightmare.

"Hello Keiko! I was hoping to see you tomorrow night after work!" chimed a cheery voice almost over her words.

She blinked once, then twice.

"Um, hello? Keiko?"

This was pretty strange. Finding her voice, Keiko spoke softly into the phone to keep the conversation private. "Botan is that you? How did you get this number?" Did she ever give Botan this number?

A chuckle on the other end burst through the phone. "Oh that was easy! There are some bonuses to being a reaper you know! So, can you come? I would have asked you to come today, except I wanted to give you at least a day's notice." Her voice, light and happy, lowered a bit with seriousness. "I really hope you can. I'd like to talk to you, as well as Yukina and Shizuru."

Scanning her miniature calendar on the side of her desk, Keiko shrugged even though Botan wouldn't be able to see it. "I suppose that's fine. What time?" Though her tone was casual, she felt the beginnings of curiosity as to why Botan would call her here of all places.

"Is six good? We can meet up at this little café I found! It's absolutely adorable and they have the most delicious-looking cakes I've ever seen!" She prattled on a bit about the café, also adding directions so Keiko would know where to go. There was something a little off about Botan's words, like she was nervous or excited. It was hard to tell which on the phone, and Keiko wished Botan was easier to read.

Clicking her pen shut after scribbling down the directions, Keiko spoke. "All right. Sure, I'll see you guys tomorrow then."

"Excellent. Can you drive Yukina? I told her I'd ask you—even though she is fine walking everywhere, I do wish she'd be more careful on the streets. If it weren't for her you-know-what, I'd think she was a bit loony, myself!" Botan giggled.

Agreeing to the request, Keiko said the usual goodbyes before hanging up. Absently fiddling with the end of the pen on her desk, she tapped it to her lips a moment later, eyes thoughtful. What a strange request. Botan always seemed fine going over to her place or Yukina's whenever she wanted to talk. As nice as the café sounded, it really wasn't her style when it came to girl time. Whatever it was that was bothering Botan, it was big. And she didn't want the boys to know about it.

A sudden loud knocking on the side of her cubicle caused her to whirl around immediately, breaking her musing. The surprised expression changed to a welcoming smile as Akira bobbed his head to her. "Sorry to bother you, Keiko-san. I was wondering if this is yours?" He held up a mug with small penguins dancing on its sides. "I found it in the communal kitchen."

"Ah! Thank you Akira-san!" She almost leaped out of her chair, glad to stretch her legs. Taking the cup, she noticed that it was remarkably clean. "Oh, did you wash it?"

He laughed sheepishly, ruffling his sandy blonde hair. "I'm actually a bit of a neat freak as you can tell. Hope you don't mind." His smile was a mixture of hopefulness and childlike delight to explain himself. "I guess I just find it nice to have everything clean and in its place."

Happily setting down on her desk (it was a gift from Yusuke—a little joke about Puu), Keiko beamed at him. "That's an admirable trait. I wish more people liked keeping things clean. It sure would make things a lot easier around here." A suspicious giggle was stifled from the other side, and they both stared at the wall. Her friends wouldn't—they wouldn't really be that silly...would they? She groaned inwardly, knowing the answer to that question wasn't the answer she wanted to give. Breaking her gaze off first, Keiko tried to regain the lost conversation. "Uh—um, so how old are you, Akira-san, if you don't mind me asking?"

He eyed the wall with some confusion still before dragging his attention back to her. "I'm twenty-nine, actually. Turning thirty in a few weeks. And how about yo—" He immediately cut himself off with a nervous laugh. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ask."

Oh yeah, she had forgotten how touchy people could be about age. It was sometimes tough to remember that when half the girls you were friends with never visibly aged. "I'm thirty. It's really no big deal. Trust me, I'd tell you if you had offended me." Along with a slap when she was younger. Something occurred to her. "Oh, we're about the same age! What school did you go to?"

"I did most of my schooling in Britain," he admitted with a small nostalgic smile. "My mother insisted."

Mildly disappointed that they couldn't share college stories, Keiko pouted slightly in that cute way Yusuke loved. "It must be very different here for you, Akira-san."

He looked a little confused, but then it seemed to click. "Oh, no, no," he laughed mirthfully. "I only went to school in Britain for college and grad school but I've lived a lot of my life here in Japan." He winked. "That's why I don't have an accent when I talk to you."

"What do you sound like when you speak English?" she asked with surprising competent English. She still had a bit of an "r" sound with her "l's" but overall she had always prided herself on learning and keeping up with languages.

Looking positively delighted, he spoke back in the same language, "Just that natural British accent those Yanks could never get. God's own love is what one of my friends there used to call it."

She blinked. She was proficient in English, but some of those words were a bit strange. "Yanks?" she asked curiously, thicker accent coming through with her confusion.

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, reverting back to Japanese. "_Yankees: _it's another term for Americans. Only British people use it, and it's usually in jesting. It was a joke my friend used to say, about how Americans only wished they could have a British accent. Do you, um, like it?"

"Oh, it's wonderful! It makes it a little difficult to understand, but hearing an accent like that is fascinating," she reassured him with a sweet smile.

Keiko could have sworn that a moment later she heard someone whisper "So hot!" in the cubicle next to her. Suddenly a loud crash made both of them stare at the wall again.

"Amaya!" someone said with concern, immediately followed with hissed shushes and then all was quiet.

Keiko felt her eyelid twitching uncontrollably. "Excuse me, Akari-san, but I think I have quite a bit of work to do still. Perhaps we'll continue this conversation later?" Still distracted by the commotion probably caused by her snooping friends, she didn't see the beatific smile on his face.

"I would love that, Keiko-san. How about lunch tomorrow?"

The question snapped her back to reality, and she looked at him again. He was quite a handsome picture with his nice clothes and his hopeful, kind smile. Kami, if she was single...she laughed inwardly with amusement. Maybe she should take a picture and show it to Botan; she'd definitely appreciate it. Lunch did sound nice but...

"I'm sorry, Akira-san, I already promised Izumi that I'd—"

Sudden pounding of feet paused the conversation again, as the aforementioned friend suddenly appeared at the entrance of Keiko's cubicle, a slightly crazy look on her face that caused both of them to lean back a little nervously. Her hair was in disarray and her clothes looked surprisingly wrinkled for someone who came in to work impeccably clean.

She took in a breath and then grinned. "I was happening to walk by at this moment, by pure coincidence I assure you, and heard about your horrible dilemma. Saito-san, you are most welcome to join us for lunch tomorrow at our lovely, local eatery. Please accept this most gracious request."

Keiko's first thought was '_Are you on drugs?'_ followed by _'Oh no...please let this not be a test...or even worse, the initiation.'_. Her concern did not show on her face though, as she kept up her polite, albeit twitchy smile.

If Izumi's strange words put-off the polite man, it was not evident as he smiled back congenially. "If you will have me, it would be my honor to enjoy lunch with you both."

Clapping her hands together with delight, she beamed at the two of them. "Great! You can meet Daichi and Amaya as well!"

Ah. It was a slowly-integrate-the-new-coworker-into-their-group plan. She should have guessed.

Once she and Akira had exchanged the last of their pleasantries and he was completely out of earshot, she wheeled onto her still smirking companion. "What was _that_? I mean, the way you asked—and _that noise_! What happened; is everyone all right?" It hadn't even occurred to her what must have happened to make all those crashing sounds.

Izumi nervously fiddled with one of her braids, smiling sheepishly. "Well, we were kind of uh...spying on you two."

"Gasp. I never would have guessed," she remarked dryly.

"Yeah, yeah so we're not the sneakiest," she quickly dismissed with a wave of her hand. "But anyways, we were jostling for wall-time and Amaya kind of...heh, slipped? Luckily, Daichi has awesome reflexes and he totally caught her! But, in the process of slipping, she let loose a lot of books and his shelf and...BOOM! Everything tumbled onto them! It was hilarious!" She cracked up, seemingly unbothered by the fact that two of her closest friends were just buried in a landslide of office material.

Daichi walked in, rubbing the back of his neck gingerly, followed by Amaya who was apologizing profusely to him no matter how many times he said that everything was fine. "I-I really didn't mean to slip! I'm so sorry! Here, let me look!" She continued to check him over.

"Well, that wasn't smooth," Daichi groaned, sending Izumi a look even as he reluctantly leaned down so Amaya could get a better look. "Izumi, here, seemed to think we should spend most of our work hours spying on Saito-san. Sorry about all the noise, Keiko." He frowned slightly at her cup, causing his nose to wrinkle cutely. "Hey, how'd he even know that was your cup?"

For some reason a strangled squeak slipped from Amaya's lips and they all turned to look at the suddenly shrinking woman.

Turning bright red, she tried to cover her face with both hands as Izumi sidled closer with an amused expression. "I'm guessing we have our perpetrator. Amaya? Anything you want to tell us." She slung an arm around her shoulder, keeping her from backing straight out of the office.

"Um…I-I…I kind of saw him in the kitchens and told him that the cup was yours."

Keiko raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't just bring it, yourself?" It made more sense when Amaya managed to turn redder, Izumi burst out laughing.

"Wow, you were so caught up in talking with the foreigner that you didn't even think of it, right? I'm right, huh? Yep, just look at that tomato face!" She cooed at her, "Aw, you really think he's good-looking, don't you?"

"Stop it," Amaya protested, face starting to look permanently red.

Keiko opened her mouth to tell Izumi to quit teasing the poor girl, when Daichi stepped in, expression blank though his voice was low and almost filled with a growl. "I think that's enough. We'll meet Saito-san tomorrow and that will be the end of that. No more teasing, okay Izumi?"

She pouted but nodded her agreement, finally releasing Amaya from her grasp.

This wasn't going to go well, Keiko could already tell. Between Amaya's flushed appearance, Izumi's pouting, and Daichi's strangely hostile stance, lunch was going to be a disaster. Raising her hand meekly, she asked, "Any chance we could have a rain check on this lunch?"

The three looks sent her way, one horrified, one filled with denial, and one calculating, made her sighed.

"That's a no, huh?"

* * *

"Thank you all very much for coming! It's wonderful that you all could make it, and may I suggest the Belgian chocolate cake—it is simply divine!" Botan was already babbling. What on Earth could be on her mind?

Lunch today had been a disaster. Sort of. Poor Akira had been completely overwhelmed by Izumi's constant questioning and prodding—it was as if she were trying to discern whether or not he was a foreign spy! And _Amaya_…poor, poor Amaya was so panicky in his presence that she acted colder towards him than she did any boy she didn't like. It had taken everything in her and Daichi's power to salvage the situation by keeping the conversation light and away from Izumi's loud queries about whether or not that was his natural hair color. At the end of the meal, when Akira had pulled her to the side, he had asked if her friends were always so…_strange_. She had not known what to say and simply laughed sheepishly. At this rate, Amaya would never figure out how to talk to him.

"Yeah, yeah, cake and all that. Sorry, but I'm trying to avoid too much of that," Shizuru said with some amusement. "Why don't we cut the chatter and you can tell us why you called all of us out here?" Keiko hid a smile behind a reach for her glass of lemon water, pretending she was taking a sip. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had seen through Botan's deception. Yukina on the other hand looked honestly confused, as if she had taken Botan at her word. No surprise—she was always the sweetest of them.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather order some cake first? No?" She giggled a little nervously, before taking a sip of her own drink to calm herself. "Well, all right, you've all seen through my little charade. And yes, I did bring you all here to talk." The seriousness on her face was surprising as she carefully stared into each of their eyes for a moment before speaking again. "It's a rather serious matter and I was hoping for your advice."

Keiko felt herself leaning in. Botan may be easy to read, but she always was good at building up the suspense. What could be on her mind?

She vaguely heard Yukina say with a smile, "Whatever you need, we'll try our best to give, Botan."

"Oh, thank you, Yukina, that's so kind." She beamed. "But truthfully, what's been on my mind is…" Keiko blinked when Botan's eyes were suddenly boring into her own. "I'm in love with Yusuke," she said seriously.

Her jaw dropped and a thousand things ran through her head.

How awkward could this get? How did this happen? What were they going to do now? And a small, unexpected but growing thought—how was she supposed to compete with someone who looked like Botan? Admittedly, she knew that Yusuke did like the way she looked, but every girl was a little insecure (herself included) and Botan was still a young-looking beautiful girl who, by all implications, was not going to age the way Keiko was going to. And that was a horrifying thought.

Laughter broke through her reverie.

Botan was giggling hysterically and Shizuru was rolling her eyes but snorting a little with her own amusement. Yukina looked just as confused as Keiko knew she must be looking. "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help it, Keiko! You all just looked so serious!" Waving a hand to appease her, she smiled apologetically. "I didn't expect you to react so strongly though. It was just a joke—Yusuke is _definitely_ not my type."

"Thanks for the warning," she responded icily, realizing she had actually dropped her glass onto the table where it was spilling, dripping onto the floor. Picking it back up, she sent the waitress who was coming up to them with a cloth and a new glass a remorseful look of her own. She hadn't meant to make more work for her. Still, if Botan hadn't made such a terrible joke—

Shizuru was sending her a searching look, one hand holding up her head. "You did react a little weirdly. Something up, Keiko?"

"N-no, nothing." She didn't want to admit the sort of fears that had suddenly ran through her head. That would just be embarrassing. "So what is this really about, Botan?"

"Are you sure you're all right, Keiko?" asked Botan, beginning to look a little worried.

"Fine." She managed a smile that wasn't too shaky. "What's up?"

Yukina was looking between her and Botan, before finally settling on sending a reproachful look Botan's way. "That wasn't very nice, Botan. If I had heard you say the same about Kuwabara…" The temperature of the café suddenly significantly lowered, and several of the customers were looking around with confusion and chattering teeth. The sweet, angelic smile on ice koorime's face did not alter a wit though, as if she had nothing to do with the cold that misted up each glass.

If Botan leaned away a little nervously, it was to be expected when someone made an obvious threat to her well being. Keiko did feel grateful though, to know that someone else would have reacted similarly. But that didn't mean she wanted to talk about it. "So, why did you call us up here, Botan? Normally you're fine with being at one of our houses."

The grim reaper looked extremely interested in her own drink again, using one finger to circle the rim. "Well…it's just…I didn't want to be overheard by the boys, you know? This is a rather touchy subject, you see. I was hoping to take the three of you into my confidence though."

"You can tell us anything, Botan," Yukina said encouragingly as the temperature began to rise to a normal level again.

Did Botan look more serious than usual? "Thank you, Yukina. It's just…it's not something I'm used to thinking about…let alone discussing! I actually can't quite believe it's happened." She shook her head as if to brush away any of her concerns.

"It's a boy," Shizuru predicted and Botan openly gaped at her with amazement.

"Wh-why yes! Wow, you were spot on! How did you ever guess?"

The elder Kuwabara smiled mystically, tapping the side of her nose in a rare show of childish humor. "I have my ways. Besides, the way you were going on and practically blushing, not wanting to tell our boys was a pretty good indication."

Botan did blush.

"So, who is it?"

Fiddling with her glass again, she turned a brighter red, cheeks flaming with color Keiko had never seen on her before. It was fascinating, seeing Botan in the moment of a crush—she was usually so composed if hyper. "It's…Kurama." She smiled at them, such an achingly beautiful smile that was so womanly and strong that it turned the three speechless. "I think I may have fallen for Kurama."

The unlit cigarette Shizuru had been toying with in her hand fell to the ground, and the brunette laughed softly. "Well, congratulations! It's about damn time someone finally decided to get her hands on that piece of meat." At the surprised gasps from her language (mainly from Yukina, who would _never_ call a boy that), she rolled her eyes. "Please, everyone has to agree that he is good-looking. Sometimes I thank Kami that there was a hunter to force Yoko Kurama into a human body—who knows if we would have seen his handsome face any other way?"

Well that's not quite how Keiko saw it, but it was true…Kurama was quite a sight for sore eyes. Not that she would ever even _think_ that if Yusuke was around; that was just asking for overprotective instincts to come out. "Do you know if he's interested in you?" Keiko asked, interested now. This was a juicy topic!

The question made Botan wilt a little. "I just don't know. I mean…I did visit him a lot during his years in America, but he might just see me as another friend. It's difficult to say, I mean, I don't even know if he's interested in girls!"

Ah yes. The point up for debate that every girl who knew Kurama wondered. Was he gay? Was he not? He didn't really date (at least not that Keiko had heard of) so no one really knew which way he swung. And no one had the courage to ask him bluntly about it. After all, he was _pretty darn_ close to Hiei. And he never showed any interest in any females. She grinned a little—if either of those guys knew what she was thinking, and they weren't involved, then they would be completely and utterly horrified. Hiei would totally **murder** her. It was kind of fun to imagine though.

"Well don't just go and give up already. You haven't even tried yet," Shizuru pointedly out in her usual cool manner, trying to put a positive spin on things. "Who knows—maybe behind that polite exterior, he's just _longing_ for some female contact."

Keiko was pretty sure she wasn't the only one turning a bit red at Shizuru's words.

The older girl smirked at the three of them. "You'd think none of you even knew what the word sex meant."

"Shizuru!" and "Honestly, in public!" were just two of the mortified cries when she said that.

Just at that moment, their waitress walked back over with a polite smile on her face. "I'm just checking up on you ladies, and I was wondering if you were ready to order?"

"Um, perhaps a few more minutes for me," Yukina murmured softly, traces of her redness fading with the presence of an outsider and Keiko nodded her agreement.

Botan, still bright red, squeaked slightly before clearing her throat. "Ah yes, um, I'd like a piece of your lovely red velvet cake. Please go light on the frosting though."

Shizuru smirked again. "Really? I'm sure Kurama would know exactly where he'd want that frosting—"

"On second thought, I think I'll try that Belgian chocolate cake, Botan was talking about!" Keiko quickly burst in, hoping she was flushing the way Botan was. It wasn't that she was a prude or anything…she just never really talked about that sort of stuff—or even thought about it. From the look on Yukina's face as she faintly said that she would have the same, she didn't really think about it either.

Botan had to be redder than a tomato.

Looking particularly amused, Shizuru placed in her own order for a slice of angel cake. "Got to keep my figure for my man, right?" she drawled.

No one responded.

* * *

"How long are you going to be this obstinate?"

Yusuke scowled, sending a deadly look her way. Genkai merely rolled her eyes at him. "Obviously a bit longer then. It isn't like I'm asking you to defuse a bomb, dimwit. I just want her to have some conversation with a regular human…well as regular as possible for now."

Crossing his arms, he continued scowling, directing it toward Lei's back now as if she were to blame for all his problems. "Why don't you just talk to her then?"

"As I've told you before, I have. The problem is that she now views me as her tribal elder, and therefore part of the clan. It's never really occurred to her that I'm human. Anyone else, though, is fair game for her to hyperventilate about like a ninny. And the only idiot I'm able to find around these parts who is both human and able to cause her to go into a state of panic is you."

"Thanks, old hag. That really makes me want to help her out," he deadpanned.

"As I suspected," she replied seriously, before suddenly smacking him in the back of the head.

"YEOWCH!"

Lei and his two children turned to stare at him, and he merely waved at them with a fake smile fixed in place. Once they had turned away, he glared at Genkai, rubbing the back of his head. "What was that about?" he demanded. Kami, for an old woman, she could hit hard!

"Sometimes I forget that you need to beat sense into people like you," she sighed mournfully as if it were a burden she could do without.

'_You totally enjoyed that,'_ he grumbled mentally, but decided not to comment, crossing his arms and refocusing his attention onto the demon watching over his children.

She took in his profile. He was frowning still and his arms were tensed with the tight form of muscles. If Lei so much as breathed wrong on his children he would probably strike. It was almost disappointing; of all people, she had always thought Yusuke would be the most open to runaway demons. Truly love was blind—the minute he perceived that his children were in danger all other types of thoughts completely flew out of his mind, leaving him with only the need to protect them from all harm, real or imaginary. She decided that another tactic was in order. If she couldn't appeal to his logic, then it was time to appeal somewhere else. Perhaps his protective nature.

"You have an idiotic concern that Lei may harm Michiko or Kane." It was a statement, not a question.

He gave her a look as if she were the idiot. "Of course. She's a demon who's practically a walking slicer. Even if she is a good person, I am a little worried that she might accidentally, oh I don't know, SLIP and decapitate one of them."

"Then wouldn't talking to her ease your concerns? If you discover she is in fact a danger, then I will remove her presence here altogether. _But_, if you find out that she is harmless, then you will agree to let her continue babysitting unmolested by you in anyway." It was more than a fair deal—of course, she was certain that she would win in the end, but that was beside the point. Yusuke looked like he was searching for any tricks that she was pulling and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. _Please_, as if she needed to use tricks against her own student. She was a gaming master for a reason. "I swear, Yusuke, that if you do find something wrong with her or not to your liking after twenty sessions of speaking with her, you will never see her again."

Sputtering, he shook his head. "_Twenty sessions_? Hell no, I thought we were talking one!"

"That's like saying one training day is enough to teach you how to be a martial artist," she snapped back. "Don't be stupid, as hard as that might be, you need several sessions in order to make sure that she doesn't trick you in any way or that your irrational hatred of her isn't blinding you to her good points."

There was a reluctant pause before he finally laid down an offer. "Five."

"Fifteen." Hers was immediate.

They stared at each other as the air began to crackle with tension, auras both glimmering dangerously. After a long moment, they seemed to come to a consensus and as one voice they spoke, Yusuke growling and Genkai smug. "_Ten_."

Truthfully she had expected less, so to get ten sessions was a nice bonus.

"Excellent, we'll start tomorrow. Try not to explode in anger—she's very sensitive."

Yusuke merely snorted.

* * *

Keiko moaned a little, rubbing her overall flat if extremely full stomach. Vaguely, the sound of the television filled the living room, but she paid it no mind. She should _not_ have had that last slice of cheesecake. Kami, it had been good though. Too good for her to resist unfortunately. She smiled inwardly—she wouldn't be the only one though! Yukina had absolutely devoured the sweets with a savagery she never would have expected of the girl, while Botan seemed to try to eat anything rather than listen to Shizuru go on about the pleasures of men. Shizuru had been the smartest and only kept to one slice.

Letting herself lay along the couch, she closed her eyes, enjoying a moment of peace. It was a small couch, and she reveled in the fact that she could fit her whole body in the sofa while Yusuke's feet and part of his legs would hang over the side if he ever tried to do the same. They had laughed and laughed about it when he had realized that for the first time.

"Tough day?"

She bit back a giggle when two warm hands came down to rub one of her feet. Opening one eye, she smiled wider when she met Yusuke's gaze. "Sort of. Ooh, right there—that feels good. How about you?" His hands paused for a moment before working on her feet again. Uh-oh, that wasn't a great sign.

Just as she expected, his voice was a little irritated. "Definitely not my best day." She could swear he mutter "_stupid old hag_" under his breath. "Still, coming back and seeing you on my couch just made my day a lot better." He leered suggestively and she laughed, teasingly kicking his arm with her other foot.

"Yusuke!"

"How were the girls?" She froze and stared at him, actually pushing herself up to a sitting position to get a better look at him. How had he known about that? Botan had wanted it to be a secret, so Keiko hadn't mentioned anything about it to her husband beforehand.

He made a face before grinning. "Oi, I'm not stupid, you know. Besides, your breath smells like cake. And you always eat sweet stuff when you go out to hang with them. Though I'm guessing from the smell that you actually went out instead of going to someone's house." Making a tragic face, he sat next to her on the couch. "And though you have betrayed my trust, I'll forgive you." He cocked an eye at her. "You did bring back some cake, right?"

Lifting up the plastic bag with a small white box inside that had being lying on the floor next to her, she smirked at him. "Did you need to ask?"

"What'd you girls talk about?"

He was too curious for his own good sometimes. Waving a teasing finger his way, she simply said, "Se-cr-et." Before he could start pouting and giving her the puppy-dog look, she changed the subject. "So what did Genkai make you do?"

This time it was his turn to stare at her.

"Oh come on, Yusuke. Your posture is practically screaming I'm-not-happy-with-Genkai-right-now. Not to mention I also heard you muttering unpleasant things about her." She placed a hand on her hip, giving him one of her own looks. "So what happened?"

He suddenly grinned and she almost expected it when he brought up a finger and simply said, "Se-cr-et."

Pouting, she objected. "That's totally different. I don't think you really want to hear our girl talk—it can get pretty gross to a boy." Even though they hadn't discussed anything particularly offensive this time, but Yusuke didn't know that.

"Come on, Keiko. Let me have my air of mystery. How else am I going to keep you to myself?" That brought a smile to her face, and she let him wrap an arm around her. Snuggling into his side, she placed several kisses onto his cheek and neck.

"Mmm, fine, but I expect some pretty good convincing," she teased back.

He looked at her with a predatory expression, and she was reminded exactly how powerful he really was. The growl in his voice was another indication of his sudden animal urges. "Well, I could show you right now if you really—"

"Mommy! Mommy! Daddy! Kane broke my pony!" Michiko ran in and Yusuke immediately reverted to a concerned parent, no signs of his more animalistic side. Tears were welling up in her eyes and Keiko lifted her up into her lap to give her a hug.

A moment later, Kane walked in bawling. "Mama, Michi hit me!" he sniffed, rubbing his arm with one little hand as if to show them exactly where she had struck. Tear

That seemed to make Michiko angrier. "No! No! You broke my pony!" Her voice rose to a shriek. "You broke it! You hurt Tsuki! You hurt her!" She was crying too now, and Yusuke and Keiko exchanged a concerned expression. Fighting didn't happen that often, but when it did, it was always difficult to decide who had really done something wrong.

"Now, Kane, did you break Tsuki?" Keiko asked kindly as Yusuke lifted Kane up into his own lap.

Kane looked like he was going to say no for a second, but finally he nodded. "Accident," he mumbled, face wet with tears. "Wanted to play too."

"See, Mi-Mi, it was an accident." Michiko didn't look appeased. "Kane, you should have been more careful, especially since those are Michiko's toys and not yours. Please say you're sorry."

He looked at her with watery eyes and a hopeful expression. "Sorry."

The little girl looked as if she would hold out another moment longer, but when she saw Dad watching her with a disapproving look, she wilted a little. "It's okay," she muttered.

"Don't worry, sweetie, we can fix Tsuki right up."

"Really?" The tears were beginning to stop as hope lit up her expression.

Nodding, Yusuke took over. "Michiko, did you hit Kane?"

Her excited expression faltered and turned into clouds. "Yes." There was reluctance in her voice, but she couldn't lie to her parents; they would know right away. Plus, Mom and Dad had always told them that lying was bad.

Kane burst out crying again, and her expression grew into more irritation. Not fair! He was purposely doing that so Mom and Dad would care about him more and make her apologize! Just as she feared, Yusuke tried to soothe him with soft words and gentle rocking. "Mi-Mi, you should apologize. It's not nice to hurt your brother, especially when it was an accident. Toys can be replaced; people can't." A strange look entered his eyes, and she suddenly changed her mind about protesting. When Dad looked far away like that, it was better to do as he said. That look always frightened her, like he was looking at something that shouldn't exist—or like he was going to leave them. She'd do anything to keep Dad from looking like that—even when it wasn't her fault. "Sorry, Kane."

The tearful smile on his face made her heart melt a little, and she felt herself forgive him inwardly as well. He didn't know any better, he was still a baby. Besides, Tsuki could be fixed—Mom said so! And Mom and Dad didn't lie.

"Why don't the two of you hug?" Keiko suggested, and in a moment it was so with Michiko fiercely hugging Kane who was tightly hugging her back. No one liked unhappiness in this house and the sooner they forgave and forgot, the better. "Don't worry, Mi-Mi, we'll make sure Tsuki is as good as new later. Now, don't you have some homework to do?"

Michiko froze guiltily, before letting out her own long-suffering sigh. "Yes, Mommy. Come on, Kane, I'll show you what I have to do!" Misdeeds already forgiven, both children hopped off their parents' laps and ran off to their room, Kane already giggling now that Michiko was in a good humor again.

They both sat there for a few minutes, just resting a little on each other. Keiko turned her head to look at her husband. "Well, that ruined the mood." He laughed before abruptly stopping, and she lifted an eyebrow his way.

Without a word, he turned up the TV volume and wrapped an arm around her again.

She opened her mouth to ask him what was bothering him, but shut it with a click of teeth when he grimaced and roughly ran a hand through his unkempt hair. Whatever he wanted to talk about was obviously creating a struggle inside of him. It'd be better not to rush him. Turning her attention to the TV, she pretended to watch the news, only vaguely listening to the new update on the latest missing people in the local area.

She wondered silently to herself if this was about whatever had been bothering Yusuke some nights ago.

After a long period of silence, neither really watching TV, Yusuke finally spoke, staring directly at the television. "What do you think about getting Michiko and Kane some training?"

She smiled to himself. Well, he was always to the point—wait, what? Her smile fell as she registered his words and what they implied. "What," she stated flatly.

"Just some self-defense. You know, get them started before some asshole comes around and tries to rough them up." He tried to sound casual, but his grip on the remote was threatening to crack the casing. She plucked it from his hand, and leveled a dangerous stare at him.

"No. No way. Yusuke, we agreed! No fighting, no training, _no danger_!"

"Keiko, it's not like I'm asking them to go out and—"

"Do you know what it's like? Just to wait there on the sidelines, never knowing if you're going to return or not? If you've finally got your stupid self killed over some _stupid_ argument? I sure know what it's like. I did that for years. Years, Yusuke!" Even she knew she wasn't just talking about their children's training any more.

He grabbed the sides of her head, forcing her to look him straight in the eye. His voice was low but gentle as he tried to convey his seriousness. "I am not asking them to go fight. I just want them to be able to protect themselves. They're not gonna just go off and start slaying demons. I mean, I didn't even get any spirit energy till after I died. And Koenma confirmed that they weren't about to suddenly start boosting up with powers. Not without some sort of shock to the system like I got." He grinned roguishly, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "I doubt anyone will be hit by a car like me. That's what Super Dad's here for, right? To keep them away from danger."

"Yusuke…" She stared back with concern and fear in her bright brown eyes. "I can't go through it again, Yusuke. I just can't. And if my children have to fight too…I think I'd die," she whispered.

Even as the last words died on her tongue, she was wrapped up tightly into a firm, engulfing hug by her partner. His cheek was pressed to hers and his lips were almost grazing her ear as he spoke. "How many **damn** times do I have to say it, Keiko? They're not going to be fighting or killing or any of that. Those days are in the past. And that's where they're going to stay."

"…Promise?" She wanted him to promise that he would never go back to that—if he left her again, it would break her heart…

He kissed her gently on each cheek before kissing her on the lips, a warm, soft kiss that lasted for a few minutes before he broke it. "I promise." Once he was sure she wasn't going to start off again, he released her head completely, and they both sat there looking at one another.

Tears slipped down her cheeks unhindered as she smiled through them and punched him lightly in the arm. "I'm keeping you to that, you big dummy."

"Hey! Wait, why are you crying? Keiko, cut that out!" When she started giggling and trying to wipe away her tears, he sighed, rubbing his face with one hand. "Kami, we've been married for years now and I still don't know what sets you off. Is it that time of the month?"

SLAP.

"Ow!"

"Yusuke, you jerk, you'd think you'd have grown up by now!" They glared at each other for a second before bursting out laughing.

* * *

And that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed and please review if you have any comments/questions/concerns etc.


	5. A Beginning of Sorts

Haha, it's been a while since I last updated. Sorry about that.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters.

* * *

Chapter Five – A Beginning of Sorts

She already regretted agreeing to this. One week was what she said—that's all she would let her children train for certain. It had taken her and Yusuke days to hash out exactly how much training time they would start with—Keiko pointing out their young age and Yusuke arguing over how important learning the basics were till they became instinct. Age made no difference for that. Strangely when Genkai had heard the decided-upon test run, she had mildly agreed to the limit without any protest. The look on Yusuke's face had been priceless when Genkai merely bowed to Keiko's wishes—obviously he had expected his sensei to fight much harder for training time with Michiko and Kane. Today was the first day of their training, and Keiko had left work early, promising to finish up her paperwork and make the last of her calls at home before the day ended to make sure she was here.

It was important for her to be here. After all, in the end it was her choice whether or not they continue the training after the first week. It was…actually really thoughtful and sweet of Yusuke; not something she would have expected when he was fourteen. Now though, he had matured in ways she had never anticipated! He had known that she would be the biggest obstacle in their training, especially if he had decided to do it in secret. If she had found out that way…Kami, there would have been fireworks and slept-on couches for months!

The fact that he had come to her with it, had tried to reason it out with her till they came to an agreement really made her happy. It was a sign that their marriage was working and they _could_ figure things out without violence or anger—something that seemed to break up so many households. And that was probably a big factor as to why she had finally agreed to something that she would have sworn years ago that she never would agree to.

"Nothing too strenuous." It wouldn't do if Michiko or Kane hurt themselves during this.

"Of course."

"And please, don't try to stretch them out with those crazy exercises. They're not dolls to be maneuvered around whichever way you please." Pulling a muscle would be awful! Thank goodness, Genkai was being so agreeable.

"As you wish."

"And if Kan—" She was suddenly bobbed on the back of her head. Turning to glare at her amused husband, she lifted a questioning eyebrow. "Yeeees?" If her tone was a little challenging, Yusuke should have expected it.

"Kami, Keiko, you're more demanding than any soccer mom I've ever seen! Let Genkai just do the training, she knows what she's doing."

"Well, excuse me, Yusuke, but I'm just trying to make sure that they aren't pushed too hard. They're just children, they should be having fun, not trying to beat each other up! We can always cancel this little session if you're not happy."

Before either could start another spat, Genkai coughed mildly, retrieving their attention. "If you children are done…" They both winced. She drew herself up and leveled her own stare at Keiko. "I am a trained professional, and their training will not consist of them 'beating each other up'. I plan to work more with their endurance and flexibility—while still focusing on their needs as children. Strength exercises will be used, but carefully monitored; at this age it would be easy to stunt their growth and that is something we should avoid." She sighed. "Since both of you decided to watch, I expect complete silence and obedience while I run my class. There will be no running to the children, no protests, and no telling me how to run things."

Keiko blinked. That fierceness hadn't been there before. Still, it was probably better—Michiko and Kane could be a handful if you didn't know how to take charge. She was probably worried over nothing…Genkai was often their babysitter, and she loved them. She would never put them in harm's way in a simple workout…right?

Thinking of how Yusuke described all of his training sessions, she suddenly didn't feel so reassured. M-Maybe there was still time to call this whole thing off—

Yusuke leaned over to speak in her ear. "Genkai's gone now, you know. She went to go and warm up with the kids. I thought you wanted to watch?"

Oh, right. Shaking her head, she grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go make sure she isn't doing anything crazy." So intent on her purpose, she didn't even notice Yusuke rolling his eyes as she dragged him along to find Genkai.

When they reached the room Genkai had designated for training today, Keiko quickly slid the door open, stepping inside…and pausing to blink at the scene. Yusuke was snickering behind her, but she barely heard him as she rubbed her eyes. What in the—? Genkai was jumping in the air every few seconds as a thin rope smacked against the ground before rising back up above her head. It was a good thing she was so small, because between Michiko and Kane's height, the purple and silver twisted rope never went up too high. The three of them were playing…jump rope?

"Ah, you're finally here. Just sit over there and watch and don't make too much noise." She easily jumped back into the air, before gently landing on her feet again, pink and white mixed hair gently falling with gravity. "We've got lots of training to do today." For some reason, both the children giggled, obviously enjoying watching their godmother and normally serious babysitter skipping rope.

Four hours later, Keiko wasn't sure what she had seen. Was that really training or just extended playtime? They had jump-roped, played hopscotch, tag, hide-and-go-seek, and a dozen other games she could see any day in the park. Sure Genkai had a huge home to play in, but besides the fascinating scenery, it could have just been a day watching Yusuke and the kids play. Was this really it? Genkai would first show them the game she wanted to play and then soon one of them would be in the middle or running around or both would. It was a little off-putting.

As if sensing her confusion, Genkai smoothly moved to walk next to her while Yusuke ran on ahead, keeping perfect pace with his out-of-breath, but laughing daughter while a tired Kane tightly held onto his head, legs once in a while kicking merrily on Yusuke's shoulders. "Are you sure you don't want the kids to stay for another hour? Each hour more is a little more training."

She smiled politely. "No thank you, Genkai. We still haven't made dinner and Michiko does have homework to do. Um…I don't mean to sound rude but…" She trailed off uncertainly—how was she supposed to ask?

"You're confused about the training." Wow, Genkai was spot on. It must have shown in her face because the martial artist snorted. "This training isn't for adults, you know. Children need special ways to be properly trained. You'd be surprised how fit a child can get if they're just allowed to play for a few hours a day outside in the sunshine. It's a shame—parents are often so wrapped up in keep their children protected and entertained, that they often forget the usefulness of just a sunny day." She shook her head in disgust. "This is just the warm-up stuff though. If they keep up this schedule for a few weeks, I'll be able to ease them into real training."

"I see…" Wait, did she say weeks? Keiko knew where this was leading. Smiling a little more tightly now, she decided to point out the situation with a little…tact. "We'll see how this week goes. Maybe they'll get tired of it."

Genkai merely smiled with grudging respect—she understood what Keiko really meant. "We'll see." The two women shared a look of understanding.

This was one of the first times Keiko had actually clashed with Genkai, and she had a growing feeling in the back of her mind that it wouldn't be the last time when Kane and Michiko were the topic of debate. And Genkai had yet to grace her with her sharp but calm wit that always sent Yusuke limping away after each battle. She wondered if Genkai was actually maneuvering her, the way she did Yusuke—perhaps in a different way though. The same methods that worked on her wonderful, if sometimes bullheaded husband (not that she should talk, according to said husband) would not work on her; they were quite different people. Perhaps Genkai would win this match, but Keiko was grimly determined not to give her the war. She loved Genkai very much, but these were her and Yusuke's children, and they would decide what was best for them—not even a well-meaning godmother would manipulate their decisions. She almost regretted agreeing to this training idea at all even with Michiko and Kane glowing afterwards with joy—it was just a foot in the door for whatever Genkai was planning.

And just as she feared, a week later Kane and Michiko were looking at her with pleading big eyes, hoping to continue "playing with their godmother". Groaning inwardly, she wanted to send a glare Genkai's way. She _had_ totally set her up! After the first two sessions, she had been forced to stay the full hours at her job—Izumi had tipped off that Yoshinada was growing suspicious—and so hadn't been there to stop Genkai from influencing her kids' opinions. They _liked_ training and thought it was something fun to do after school (in Michiko's case). From the set looks on their faces, they would just be devastated if she told them they could train anymore.

Even though she obviously must have felt victorious, Genkai did a good job of not showing any of her delight, looking rather bored instead. "Michiko. Kane. If your mother does not want you to train, then we'll stop." Her eyes flickered over to their mother for an instant. "It's all up to her."

Keiko scowled when her children looked back at her. Damn, that woman was **good**. Letting out a long sigh, she resisted the urge to start shooting glares Genkai's way. She was an adult now. Staring matches were for children. Then again, if it would make her feel better… "Well…"

"Pleeeeeaaaase?"

Argh, was Yusuke looking at her pleadingly too? What was the world coming to?

She gave in.

"…Fine. We'll do this for another month." She couldn't help the quirk of a smile when both kids started jumping up and down and yelling their thanks. Before they could go overboard, she waved a finger at them. "But, I expect a report on what you two have been doing each week. And at the end of the month, we'll decide whether or not you should continue any further."

Both Kane and Michiko nodded exuberantly before running off with Genkai to beg one more game of hide-and-go-seek off of her before they left and she wondered how much either of them really understood what Genkai was trying to teach them. Probably not, they were both still so young. Too young to be doing this, in her opinion, but they had already passed that obstacle, so all she could do was hold her fears to herself quietly and hope for the best.

A beeping noise distracted her from her thoughts and she looked at Yusuke who was frowning slightly at his phone, tapping the keypad a few times. "I would have thought you'd be celebrating my giving in?" she commented dryly. When he didn't react immediately, she leaned in closer to get a look at what he was staring at. "Something up?"

He flipped the phone shut with a sigh. "Kurama's called me a few times."

"You haven't called back?"

"I meant to. Just…kind of forgot, honestly." He looked sheepish as he absently opened and closed the cover of his phone. "Guess I'll just call now." Flipping the phone open again, he pressed 3 and then hit the CALL button. "Good thing I've got him on speed dial." Placing it up to his ear, he waited and grinned when Keiko patted him on the arm before mouthing that she was going to go check on the kids. What she probably meant was have another silent battle with Genkai. Kami, he had never thought he'd see the two in a fight before—even a fight of wills like this! It was kind of ironic actually, since he had always complained about how Genkai always got him in the end, while Keiko had never had to deal with that side of her personality and had assumed that he had been exaggerating. It was nice to be the observer for a change.

A click alerted him to someone picking up the phone on the other end.

"Hello?" questioned a soft voice. "Minamino Shuuichi speaking." There was a pause and Yusuke was pretty sure Kurama had then just noticed the caller ID. "Yusuke, is that you?"

"Spot on, foxy," he chirped. "Sorry I kept missing your calls—things were kind of weird around here lately."

The voice sounded amused as he responded. "Really? What have you been doing?"

"You know, the usual. Hating the job, picking up the kids, doing all sorts of kinky stuff with a certain girl which you could only dream about—and you better not, or I'll rip your eyeballs right out of their fucking sockets." Kurama snorted and Yusuke casually continued. "…Getting Keiko to agree to let Genkai train the kids—"

"_Really?"_ he asked, sounding honestly shocked. "I thought you two decided to keep them away from any form of fighting."

He shook his head, forgetting that Kurama couldn't see it. "I know, I know. But…things just got complicated." He didn't want to mention the demon that oversaw his children, who he had had two speaking sessions with this week. Especially if Keiko overheard—he still hadn't figured out how to mention that to her. And it bothered him, how his senses told her she was harmless…and now he was actually lowering (lowering!) his guard around her unconsciously. "We'd like them to have a little bit of training. Self defense and stuff." Just in case Lei did turn out to be some horror of spikes as he so rightly (not paranoid! Not paranoid!) feared. He wanted them to be able to defend themselves; damn it, he wished they had acquired some of his demonic powers—then they wouldn't have to worry about being killed by her!

"Ah, all right."

That was something he always liked about Kurama. He was pretty quick to accept things, no matter how strange they would be to anyone else. He had always been one of those guys who would take the situation in, blink once, maybe even twice, then take over when he needed to and get the job done if no one else would. He was trustworthy and a good guy—probably why Yusuke liked to talk with him. He felt sort of…free when he spoke to Kurama—like he didn't need to watch himself at all.

"So what's up, man? You keep calling me for a reason, right? Or did you just want to hear my awesome voice?" he joked. When that didn't get a response, he raised an eyebrow, wondering if Kurama really did like his voice. "Uh, Kurama? You still there? Y-you don't really call for my voice, right? Cause that would scare the shit out of me."

He was relieved when Kurama spoke, even if he ignored the question completely. "Where are you right now?"

"At Genkai's still. The kids want one more game with her then we'll be heading out." He shook his head. "It's crazy how much energy they had. I don't remember having so much at their ages. Sometimes I wonder if they did pick up a little bit of my demon heritage after all."

"Well, I wish we could talk now, but I'm actually pretty busy. Perhaps we could meet up later?"

Yusuke blinked. What was with the brush-off? Kurama seemed to have lots of time a moment ago. "Uh…sure? Damn it, Kurama, is there something on your mind? You're acting weird, and if there is some demon threatening your little brother, I'd like to know now before you lead me to some pit and try to betray me."

That actually elicited a laugh out of his especially-stoic-today friend.

"Yes, yes. I'll certainly warn you if someone tries to control me through such base methods," he chuckled. "But by the time you find out, I'll probably have fixed the situation." The coolness at the end of his sentence made Yusuke feel a little sorry for the imaginary threat; Kurama would absolutely _destroy_ anyone who tried to hold a hostage in order to get him to follow orders. He had already heard the stories about Yomi's attempt to do just that.

"Thanks. What's a good day for you?"

"Perhaps next weekend? I've actually been away on a bit of a business trip—I'm in America right now," he admitted. "But by next weekend, I should return and we can speak then."

Eyes round with surprise—he personally had never gone further than three cities down (well, does going to another world count?) from where he lived—Yusuke grinned. "Well, bring me back a souvenir! What do they even have in America?" Besides the obvious: gold streets, tons of money, and apparently some hot chicks in California.

He could almost see the smirk on Kurama's face. "I'll tell you all about it when I get back—it'll be a surprise. Say hello to Keiko and the children for me."

"Yeah, yeah. See you later, man."

* * *

"_And next on the news, it looks like another beautiful sunny day tomorrow! We may have a few clouds coming in, but chance of rain is next to none this whole week. Around the Osaka area, we could get some—" _

The news droned on in the background as Kuwabara scratched his head with the tip of his mechanical pencil. He was trying to brainstorm a new design idea for the current project he was heading—they had gotten nowhere today, everyone wanting to branch out on this one, so each person agreed to think on it a bit more till the next meeting. Scratching out his last bullet point, he shifted his head one way then the other till he heard a loud popping sound. It sucked being in charge sometimes. The team worked well in general, no matter who was placed on them, but when they came to a rare standstill like today, all the different egos and personalities tended to explode at one another. Kuwabara just didn't like having to deal with that—he'd rather just be one of the workers doing his share of the project. But for some reason his boss's boss had seen something in him that he liked and had personally suggested that Kuwabara run a team. Three years later, here he was, still in charge even though he obviously wasn't well-equipped for the job in his opinion.

He had decided to leave work early, figuring home would be a more suitable atmosphere to thinking. Heh, thinking. He grinned. A long time ago, some of his friends would have been shocked to hear that Kuwabara was now a successful engineer who actually worked with some of the leading Japanese scientists of their time—after all, he was just a nice, if sort of stupid guy. And for a long time, that was what he thought he was too. But then something happened—he didn't know—maybe it had all started when he teamed up with Yusuke for the first time against that one guy…what was his name? Some crazy guy who had wanted to learn from Genkai and kill her. Kuwabara had been worried about his freaky psychic powers acting up, but after that he had started to realize that they could actually be useful. It was after that that he became a part of the Reikai Tantei.

A time he was still very fond of and sometimes found himself reminiscing over. Weird how all the times he thought he was dead or going to die now seemed like fun times. He could have sworn he had been scared shitless during the actual process.

But those days were far behind him; he had more important things to do. Like his job and taking care of his wonderful family. With just a glance at his watch, he knew exactly where the three of them were.

Two twenty-seven.

Yukina was outside in the backyard, teaching their children proper meditation techniques to keep their tempers under control. She had insisted that they not send them to public school, instead deciding to dedicate her time to training them both in mental and physical arts. At first, Kuwabara had been confused but accepting about that. It wasn't until she explained that ice maidens always taught their own children that he began to understand how much it meant to her to be able to teach her own children, _both_ male and female.

Of course. Kumiko was, in her own right, a growing little ice maiden too with her own set of powers that had shown up from practically the moment of birth. It still confused him, how she really was not of his blood at all, only Yukina's, but that didn't stop him from treating her as if she was his legitimate daughter. And she certainly acted like it, following him around like a lost puppy whenever he had time to play. Her brother was the same way—they seemed to know how little time Kuwabara had and so accordingly treated time with him to be a real treasure.

Akihiko also had powers though. He had always been able to see ghosts with unerring detail that Kuwabara still couldn't mimic, and he also had been astounded by how powerful his son's spiritual powers were already, though there were no signs of any manifestation of his power like Kuwabara's Spirit Sword. That was probably not going to occur until he was much older. It was as if the mixture of his and Yukina's blood had only enhanced his abilities to the fullest. While Yusuke and Keiko's children seemed perfectly normal, he had a feeling his and Yukina's would always be uniquely powerful in a world of humans. Perhaps it was better that Yukina homeschooled them; other children would never understand why Akihiko would suddenly start talking about a ghost he could see or why Kumiko could heal any bloody knee with barely a word. There were too many awkward questions that could be asked.

Not to mention the lack of identification. After some wrangling with the Japanese administration, he had finally been able to procure some proof that his two children existed, just in case something ever happened to him or Yukina—they would not have to go down documented as mystery children. What was still a problem, though, was Yukina's lack of identification. They couldn't exactly waltz up to a hospital and tell them that she happened to be an ice demon who decided to come live in Japan and that's why she didn't exist on their system. And acquiring that information was proving to be…tricky, even with Genkai's assistance. That's one thing he and the old woman agreed on; Yukina needed to become a citizen of Japan if they were going to continue living here.

Lost in his thoughts, he inattentively sketched out another suggestion to appease all the factions of the team as the clock ticked on. The news continued buzzing in the background, something about sports that he really didn't care about in the slightest. Loud laughter and giggles suddenly erupted from the door in the living room as Yukina and their children must have stepped inside.

He checked his watch. Yep, exactly three. It sounded like they were about to take a break.

Grinning to himself, he pretended to be lost deep in his work, even as he heard Yukina's soft footsteps that were soon muffled by the carpet. "Hello, Kazuma," she said with a sweet smile that he could almost hear in her voice. "I'm glad you came home early. Akihiko and Kumiko are having a snack right now, but they would be happy to spend some more time with you later; if you are available that is."

"Of course." He was grinning like an idiot, but he didn't mind. He always did that around her. Kami, it still stunned him sometimes, how close he had been to never having this family. If Yukina hadn't changed her mind…he didn't really want to think about that. "How's your day been, my beautiful Yukina?" He was not gushing—men don't gush.

"Oh, it's been lovely, thank you. Kumiko has been making excellent progress with her control on forming small ice balls while Akihiko is growing more confident in his ability to identify any ghost that he encounters. And the plants have been blooming beautifully—I think we'll have the best flowers yet."

If Yukina had ever been a bloodthirsty demon, Kuwabara couldn't imagine it. She seemed to almost glow with contentment about her own life, even if once in a while she would grow silent and sad. Those were the times he knew she was wondering about her long lost brother. Personally, he was beginning to think that this lost brother was a jerk—if he really cared about Yukina, he would have found her by now, right? No matter how far away she was from him, he should have been looking for her just like she'd been searching for him before settling down with Kuwabara.

He took her hand into his, marveling at the softness and gentle chill that emitted from her fingers as they intertwined with his.

"Yukina…have I ever told you how lucky I am that you chose me?"

Putting her other hand up to hide her smile, she giggled lightly. "Every day, Kazuma." Her kind red eyes took in his smiling face as she sat into his lap, resting the tips of her fingers on his cheek while still holding his other hand firmly. "And I feel the same."

A goofy grin split his face.

The loving, touching scene was suddenly broken by a crashing noise coming from the dining room. "Mother, there appears to be another ghost trying to acquire Akihiko's assistance again," called the calm, light voice of their daughter. "He seems unwilling to simply accept our declination."

Both Kuwabara and Yukina tried not to laugh when Akihiko's voice suddenly roared up. "GRAAAA, LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU WEIRDO!"

Another crash and Kumiko sighed loudly enough for the parents to hear. "He seems to have destroyed another plate in his attempt to remove the ghost from our vicinity." At five years old, Kumiko already started sounding like an unemotional textbook, the way Yukina did at times, while Akihiko liked to use more simplistic sentences that conveyed his emotions strongly—something Kuwabara thought came from his side of the family.

"Akihiko, what did I say about using plates?" Yukina called mildly, and the yelling and violent noises suddenly quieted. She directed her attention back to Kuwabara, gently caressing his cheek. "Please hold on, Kazuma, I better check on the children. I'll return in a moment."

He couldn't help himself. "I'll wait for you forever if I have to." Even with the cheesiness, the response seemed to please his love and she sent him a sweet smile before gracefully moving towards the source of the problem.

Turning his attention back to his work, he grimaced in dismay. Damn it, nothing was coming to mind at all right now. He'd much rather be thinking about Yukina than about this project. In the back of his mind, he was vaguely listening to the news still (better than this work right now).

"—_And police are still on the lookout for any clues. The kidnapper is still at large, and if anyone has any information of his or her whereabouts, please contact the police immediately. It's been over a week now since the first kidnapping, and shockingly there is now three whole blocks of people gone missing. Police have been stationed around nearby areas in hopes of avoiding any more tragedy. We don't know what the kidnapper's motive is, but things are looking bleak for the original victims."_

Kuwabara shifted in his seat, eyes now on the news. Whoa, three blocks was a lot of people.

The woman on the television raised a hand to her ear and her expression turned intent. "This just in, bodies of the first four victims have been found. I repeat, the bodies have been found. We have cameramen on the scene, and I must warn you now that the images are graphic and not for people who cannot handle the sight of blood and nudity. If you cannot handle this, please change the channel."

Once the warning had been given twice, gory images were flashed on screen of blank-eyed people laying at awkward angles in the water as a reporter began to speak in front of them, looking mildly horrified. _"There are plenty of bite marks and no signs of drowning. It looks as if they have been tossed into the river after the time of death. The police are now looking for fingerprints or any clues to our killer, but still no statement has been issued to our station. It almost appears as if someone has…ripped apart some of the victims in a macabre mockery of a predator consuming its prey. These bodies were found half an hour ago by two local runners who called the police after spotting them in the river."_

Sometime during the report, Yukina had walked back in, immediately captured by the scene on TV. She moved behind Kuwabara's chair, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How awful," she said sympathetically and Kuwabara nodded his agreement. "Do they have any leads?"

"None, I guess. These kidnappings have been going on for a while," he gestured towards the discarded newspaper which he had been skimming an hour ago, "and now the kidnapper has turned into a murderer. Bastard—how could he do that?"

"It's actually fairly common in Makai." Kuwabara looked at her incredulously and she smiled. "It's true. There are many demons that would do something quite similar to that, sometimes out of hunger or anger or even just for fun. One of the common ploys was to kidnap an enemy's child and torture the other demon with hope to save the child, till consuming it."

"But what was the point of giving the parent hope?"

She shrugged, strangely undisturbed by the topic. "I suppose it made the game even more fun. When demons aren't out looking for food or mates, they generally are focused on selfish entertainment if they are of the unsavory sort."

"That's disgusting." His hand was clenched into a tight fist, and he found himself wishing he was still a spirit detective—he'd show those demons the error of their ways! Forcing his hand to relax, he jerked his head towards the television. "So this guy's acting like a demon, huh?"

"Very closely. Except no demon would try that ploy with a human."

"Really?"

"Of course. They'd simply eat them all." The matter-of-fact way she said it sent a shiver down his spine at the cruelty of Makai. Kami, he was glad Yukina wasn't there anymore!

The news had switched back to the main reporters, and the woman who had been on earlier was now listing the areas police were keeping a close eye on. One of the names sounded familiar to Kuwabara and he chewed on it for a bit. Wait, that street…didn't Kurama live there?

"Crap! Crap!" He scrambled to his feet, nearly running into Yukina who was still standing behind him. A phone, he needed a phone!

"Kazuma, what is it?"

Grabbing the phone on top of small cabinet, he quickly dialed in the numbers to Kurama's home phone. 'Pick up, pick up, pick up,' he chanted impatiently. A beep alerted him and he quickly talked into the receiver. "Kurama, it's—"

"_Hello, you've reached Minamino Shuuichi's phone. I am currently unavailable at the moment but if you could leave me a detailed voice message, your name, and your number, I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you."_

The phone beeped in his ear, and he hung up. Damn it, why was he not picking up now of all times? Ah right, his cell! Kuwabara punched in the numbers and tapped his foot impatiently, a concerned Yukina hovering behind him. This time it only rang twice before a sleepy-voiced Kurama picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kurama!" He ignored the immediate protest of his friend at the volume of his voice. "Are you watching the news?"

There was the distinct noise of a yawn from the normally polite man. "Kuwabara, it's seven in the morning, and this is the first time I've been able to sleep in. Why would I be watching the news?" He sounded mildly irritated.

Kuwabara blinked. "Um, Kurama, it's twenty past three. What are you talking about?"

Apparently, Kurama wasn't much of a morning person when he didn't have to be, and Kuwabara later could have sworn that he had heard Kurama mutter a _curse_. "I'm not in Japan right now, Kuwabara. I'm in America, and there is quite a difference in time. Now, why do you sound so worried?"

"There's a killer on the loose, Kurama, and he's stalking your neighborhood."

"What?" The fox's brain didn't seem too awake right now.

Kuwabara let out a long-suffering sigh. "Come on, keep up! Man, there was a kidnapper who stole a lot of people—three blocks now—except they found some of their bodies and so he's a murderer now. And all his victims have been near your area! Actually, I think your street is the closest to the last missing block!"

"…Kuwabara. I am not there at the moment. I do not think a killer will come after me right now, though I appreciate your concern."

Oh. Well that did make sense. A killer couldn't go after a guy in America, right? Sometimes Kuwabara's body moved faster than his brain—Yukina claimed it was endearing. "I guess you're right. Still, give me a call back when you get back, and we'll totally be on the lookout for that crazy guy. Don't want you to go missing too."

Kurama chuckled. "Indeed. I'll call you when I return. Now, may I get another hour or two of sleep before I have to deal with the outside world?"

"Yeah, sure. Get your beauty sleep, since I guess you care so much about it with your girly face," Kuwabara grunted. "See you later."

Yukina was watching him when he lowered the phone back onto the stand. "Where is he?" She seemed to have picked up on what had sent Kuwabara running for the phone.

"America of all places, can you believe it? Hey, and that guy never even told us he was leaving! Geez, he should be more considerate than that." He scratched his cheek. "Oh, and I guess it was seven something over there in his time. Whoops."

Giggling at his embarrassment, she slipped her arm around his. "I think it's very sweet of you to check on him. Though, Kurama is quite powerful in his own right. I'm sure he can handle some kidnapping human."

"I guess…it just freaks me out though. We've always been so caught up in the dangers of Makai and demons that it's sometimes hard to remember all the dangers in our own world." He sighed. "Why can't things be simpler?"

"Things are never simple." Did her eyes look sad?

Before she could start brooding about her brother again, Kuwabara nudged her chin up so that she was looking at him. A gentle smile (only for Yukina) was on his face. "Come on, let's go check on the kids. We'll talk about it all later, if you want."

She smiled back sweetly at the concern he was emanating, feeling better even if the solemn melancholy did not leave her eyes. "Sure."

* * *

Ah the weekend! Keiko absolutely loved the weekend and looked forward to it every single day it wasn't the weekend! It was a time when she could spend all her time with her children, though Yusuke still had to work both days. It had been nearly a week and a half since she had let her children continue their training, and she had to admit it sounded all right. Nothing dangerous was going on, just games and light stretching. And they did seem happier because of it. If Genkai kept looking so smug though, Keiko might just have to do something about it!

The one downside was that Michiko and Kane had somehow acquired even more energy than before, and that meant that she could barely keep up with them—not that she really could before.

Today they had begged and begged to get to go see the animals at the zoo. She had relented, knowing how much they enjoyed seeing all the different sorts of creatures. The car drive was long though—took her a good hour through traffic, so she had warned them that they were only going if they were both able to wake up bright and early.

Unsurprisingly, they did just that. They were ridiculously energetic.

It had been a lovely trip though, with the three of them going from one area to the next, seeing giraffes and lions and everything in between. Michiko constantly begged to go back to the seals, while Kane seemed determined to see every single type of snake known to man. Overall, they had both behaved wonderfully, and the only damper on the whole day was the lack of Yusuke's presence. But that happened every weekend—it was expensive to take care of two children and Yusuke was determined to pull his share of the weight. A smile tugged at her lips; he really was a great guy, trying to make sure that his family could get the best possible things.

Sitting down on the couch in the living room, she noticed that Michiko and Kane had left the television on, though the sound was now muted. They must have been checking to see if there were any cartoons on in the afternoon and been disappointed. She grinned a little as her eyes lowered to where her children were.

No matter how much more energy they had, they were still children, and like children after a long day of play and watching animals, Michiko and Kane were laid out of the carpet. Michiko was still trotting two ponies across the floor and happily muttering whatever story was going on in her head, but Kane had actually fallen asleep, sucking his thumb contently.

She sighed happily, fully reveling in her freedom away from the office. It was nice to have some time to think about nothing at all.

The phone started ringing.

Without even moving from her position, she grabbed it from the side and spoke into it quietly to avoid waking Kane. "Hello, this is Keiko."

"Keiko! Oh thank Kami you're home!"

She blinked, recognizing Izumi's voice. It was rare for Izumi to call her, since she was always traveling on weekends and often getting into strange adventures that she would relay back to her friends the next Monday. And she sounded strangely frantic, different from her usual chipper voice. Getting up, she moved away from the living room to speak at regular volume. "Izumi, is something wrong?"

There was silence for a moment on the other side and then a vague noise as if a door had been pushed open a little. "I don't know. Something really strange is going on." Her voice was down to a whisper. "You know about that crazy kidnapper-turned-murderer case? And how the police haven't figured out how it's happening or who's behind it?"

"Yes, it's been all over the news. Why?"

"My block is now in the police-watched zone. A-And I don't know—something-something just seems off today. I'm scared I guess. I didn't even want to leave my house to go out!" The last word came out with a burst of hysterical laughter. "I don't know, I just feel really tense. I'm sorry, maybe I'm just calling for no reason...but this whole thing is just freaking me out; I wanted to hear a friendly voice."

Keiko nodded, worry creasing her forehead. "Of course. If you want, you can come over and we can talk. Maybe that would make you feel better?" She hadn't realized Izumi was in one of the patrolled areas now. It really was an insane case—there were no leads apparently and no witnesses that could even give a clue as to who was doing it. Anyone who might have known the answer was dead. Kami, why hadn't the police found the killer yet?

"No, no, thanks though," Izumi said, sounding more relaxed again. "I was just going a little crazy there. Thanks for listening. I—" She suddenly let out a sharp gasp, loud enough for the speaker to pick up even as Keiko heard the phone on the other end clatter to the floor.

"Izumi? Izumi, what happened?" she asked.

She waited on the line for another minute, but no one picked up the phone. There was a sound of shuffling and then nothing. Keiko began to feel more than just a little worried, and began speaking frantically in the phone when she couldn't hear anyone moving around at all. "Izumi! Izumi! Izumi, talk to me! Come on, this isn't funny! _IZUMI_!"

There was no response.

* * *

And that's the end of this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!


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